Pirate Tails
by D3athrav3n92
Summary: A young girl with no memory is found at the Baratie, and is swept away in an epic adventure two years later in a misguided attempt to find her family. OC story, no pairings, just nakama-ship and hilarity.
1. Prologue

**Sooooo I have had a lot of time on my hands, and my sister thought I should put this up. I have another One Piece OC story, but I might post that one later, especially once I have more written to it. **

**Anyways, the reason why I'm posting this is because I went and saw the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug yesterday at midnight, and it's currently ruined my sleeping schedule. Hence this chapter. And you guys better review (_I'm looking at you Skitzykat101!)_. **

**Anyways, enjoy! **

**Pirate Tails**

_**by D3athrav3n92**_

**Prologue**

I heard the cawing of seagulls and the slosh of a large body of water.

Hesitantly, I opened my eyes, squinting as sunlight nearly burned my eyes out. All I could see though were seagulls and blue.

'_What the_…?' I pushed myself upright, frowning at the large body of water that surrounded me. That couldn't be right. As far as I knew, I was…I was…

Hmm. I couldn't remember where I was last, or what I was doing. I looked down to stare at my hands. There were long white scars running from the thumbs of my hands to my wrists, and I frowned. I couldn't remember where I got these…and what's worse, they looked new, like they just recently healed over.

Well crap. What the hell was I doing here? Or even better, how was I going to get out?

I straightened, and searched around the small rowboat in hopes of finding something that would keep me alive for the next several days. Instead of a ticket voucher for a free buffet or something, I spotted a bag underneath one of the seats.

It wasn't very big, only about the size of my head. I opened it, and saw a little bit of food for a week, as well as some wrinkled clothes, as if they were hastily thrown in.

I sat back, settling the bag at my feet. Something wasn't right.

I rolled my eyes at myself. No _duh _something wasn't right! I was stuck in the middle of _nowhere _with a small bag of food and no memory. Things couldn't get much worse right now.

Grimacing, I reached up to scratch the back of my head with my tail, trying to remember what the hell had happened to me. Something sticky landed on the tip of my tail, and frowned, reaching back to pull the extra appendage in front of me. The tip was crimson, bathed in blood that most likely came from my head.

Okay, stuck in the middle of nowhere with a little bit of food, no memory, and a bleeding head. This day was getting better and better.

Hopefully, I'd run into someone before I ran out of food. Or even better, I'd run into someone before I _died_.

I leaned back, and closed my eyes again.

There was nothing else to do but wait.

* * *

_A hand fell, and I felt myself scrambling to grab the hand, the panic of not being able to get a proper grip on it increasing as the hand dangled back, a trail of bright crimson snaking down the hand to drip onto my face-_

I jerked awake, my chest heaving as I stared up at the starry sky. The moon was making a glow on the waves, and the stars glimmered at me, winking and twinkling up in the dark sky. I slumped back into my seat as I panted, confused and slightly frightened.

What the hell was that? Was it a nightmare? A memory? Or both? I fought back a shiver, huddling further down into the small rowboat. Shit, it was _freezing_! Who knew the ocean got so cold in the middle of the summer? It was bloody cold, and-My eyes widened, and I paused, mid-thought as the memory surged through my mind.

…_A trail of bright crimson snaking down the hand to drip onto my face…_

I reached up and felt my face with trembling fingers.

Something crumbled under my touch, and I pulled away to see dried blood again.

I swallowed hard. Something had happened, and I couldn't remember a single bit of it…other than the fact that it was something serious. And it wasn't just a nightmare, either. It had happened, it really happened, and I was staring at the proof of it.

I looked around. Nothing in sight, just endless water and skies. There was nothing else to do other than pray that I'd survive this little voyage to be able to find out more about what happened.

* * *

It'd been two months. My rations ran out after a month, and I spent every waking day trying to ignore my shrinking stomach and fighting extreme boredom. I was going _crazy it was so __**boring**_.

I spent a day coming up with outrageous names, to replace the one I could no longer remember. Eventually, I settled on Hazel, from the hazelnut shells on the bottom of my little boat. It was simple and (I hope) normal enough to pass as a name. Plus, it sounded good, it sounded like it _fit_.

The next day was spent singing every single song that I remembered, which was surprising considering the number of songs I belted at the top of my lungs. I managed to scare away the seagulls that occasionally landed on my little boat.

The day after that consisted of coming up with silly stories about my past. In one, I was a kick-ass princess, slaying baddies and saving princes. In another, I was a secret agent, spying on an evil warlord and kicking ass. A lot of these fantasies involved me kicking ass and earning a lot of food and money in the process.

And every day after that, I was sprawled out, alternating between sleeping and putting my mind off food. Almost constantly, my mind was on food, or my impending doom. I could see my stomach shrinking more and more with each passing day, and most times, there was the fear that I was going to die out here, alone and without another chance to see anything other than the vast ocean. It pressed on me, the despair and hopelessness rising with every new day, and every day that passed without seeing a single ship or landmass.

Soon enough, my mind was in a haze of muddled confusion as I stared blankly at the seagulls wheeling above my little rowboat.

I wonder if seagulls were any good…

* * *

"_Hey, there's someone in the boat!"_

"_Owner, come take a look!"_

"…_Get her inside. Sanji, get some light broth ready for her, will you?"_

"_Of course."_

"_What the-! She's got a tail!"_

"_What the hell? What kind of person has a tail?"_

"_Forget that! Owner, what should we do with her?"_

"_We're going to feed her, of course."_

"_You shitty cook, she'd probably die with your food-"_

"_Stop arguing, boys, and get back to work! We have customers to serve!"_

"_Aye, Owner."_

* * *

Something smelled good. I mean, _really_ good.

I opened my eyes, and stared blankly at the ceiling in front of before realization sank in.

"Huh. Heaven smells like grilled salmon," I muttered thoughtfully, blinking. Then I wrinkled my nose. "Wait, what kind of _heaven _smells like grilled salmon?!" Except the smell made my mouth drool like a waterfall. "Mmm…salmon…"

There was a chuckle to my right. "Of course it smell like salmon. We're on a floating restaurant. And who says heaven can't smell like grilled fish?" My head whipped around and I caught a glimpse of a man with a big blond beard and hair before dizziness settled in. I swallowed, feeling the urge to throw up, but there was nothing in my stomach to come up in the first place.

"Take it easy," the man told me sternly, crossing his arms. "You've been starved, so rest until you get your strength back."

I nodded, and I tried to push myself up so I could lean against the pillows, but my arms shook so much with the exertion that they eventually gave out, sending me collapsing back into the bed. "Oomph!" I lay there for a minute, enjoying the _super soft_ feeling of the blankets, before trying again.

"Here, lemme help you," said the man gruffly, and I grimaced weakly, allowing him to pull me into a sitting position. He looked at me with a slight frown, and I looked away in embarrassment.

"Sorry," I mumbled, and the man's frown deepened.

"Brat, don't worry about it. I've been starved before, so I know exactly what you're going through," he said sternly, and my eyes widened, before peeking a glance at his small potbelly. It was a bit hard to imagine, but from the glare on his rough face, I figured that it could've been possible.

"Oh," I mumbled, looking down. That's when I noticed his leg. I gasped softly, and the man followed my line of gaze to his own leg before letting out a deep chuckle.

"I know, awful, isn't it?" he asked proudly, shaking said leg. It was gone, with just a peg of wood to replace it. "I had to eat it, because I wasn't the only one starving."

I blanched at the thought of eating a part of myself, and he studied me before letting out a throaty chuckle. "So, brat, what's your name?" he asked, and I tore my eyes away from the leg to shrug, my mind still coming up with horrific images of me eating myself.

"Hazel," I said distractedly, and he grinned widely.

"Like the nuts?" he asked, and I nodded. He snorted, and I found myself scowling. What was wrong with Hazel? "Funny. Here we are, on the only floating restaurant in the five oceans, and we pick up a girl named after a type of nut." I flushed in embarrassment. There was nothing wrong with the name Hazel!

He slowly stopped laughing, and studied me. "How old are you, kid?"

I shrugged. "Eleven? Ten? I don't remember."

His gaze sharpened. "Don't remember?" he repeated, and I nodded, feeling mostly confident about my answer. I don't remember being any older than eleven. "Hmm…what about your hometown? Family? Favorite food?" At each question, I shook my head no, feeling more and more confused. "That's a bit of a problem, ain't it?" he asked, stroking his beard. "So you don't know how you got those scars or how you have a tail, do you?" he asked, and I frowned.

"What d'you mean, 'how I have a tail'?" I parroted indignantly. "I was born with it!"

"You didn't eat a strange fruit?" I paused, before looking at the man in confusion.

"What do fruit have to do with this?" I asked in confusion, and the man eyed me for a moment before nodding.

"Very well. Do you have anywhere to go?" I shook my head again, and he slumped back into his chair, running a hand over his face.

"This is the last time I pick up strays," he muttered to himself, but my ears picked it up. "Fine. You can stay here, earn your keep. You can be the dishwasher girl once you get your strength up."

"Yessir," I replied automatically, cheerfully. Then I paused. "Wait, do I get paid?"

"No." At the blunt refusal, I wilted. "But you will get free food and board."

I grinned brightly. "Yes!"

At that moment, the door opened, and another blond stuck his head in. He had his hair covering one of his blue eyes, a tiny bit of stubble on his chin, and a curly eyebrow that kept drawing my attention. There was also a cigarette stuck in between his teeth, smoldering faintly. "Ah, you're awake!" he said, pushing the door open all the way with his foot. His hands were holding a small tray with a steaming bowl.

"Sanji," said the man, standing with a grunt, "you take care of her. I need to run the business."

Sanji scowled at the man. "Fine," he snapped, and the man nodded, stumping over to the door. He paused, however, at the entrance before he glanced back at me.

"Glad to have you aboard, brat," he said, smirking at me. "The name's Zeff. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask one of the workers around here." And with that, he stepped out, shutting the door behind him.

Sanji sighed. "Shitty old man," he growled, before turning to me, his face lighting up almost immediately. "I'm Sanji! I'm the assistant head chef here, so if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to find me, even if it's something small!" He said this all very enthusiastically, and I found myself wondering if he had mood swings, or just a weird personality.

I bobbed my head shyly. "Thank you," I mumbled, and he beamed.

"It's no problem! Now, we'll have to take things easy here, because your body won't be able to handle much more than broth," he told me, pushing the chair Zeff was sitting in over to the bed with his foot before taking a seat and balancing the tray on his lap. He took a spoonful of broth, and obediently, I opened my mouth, allowing him to feed me.

I was really embarrassing, not being able to feed myself (my arms were too weak for that), but the feeling was forgotten when I tasted the rich flavor of the broth.

"How is it?" Sanji asked as I swallowed, and I felt tears spring in my eyes.

"It's amazing," I whispered.

Sanji grinned. "I can imagine. After being starved, everything tastes great."

It sounded like he was speaking from personal experience. Was he the one with Zeff when he ate his leg? I found myself cringing a little at the morbid thought. Ewwwww!

"Everything okay, miss?" Sanji asked me, pausing in the middle of feeding me another spoonful, and I hastily shook my head.

"Ah, yeah, it's great," I answered, and he nodded, grinning and returning to the bowl.

Sanji continued to feed me, and once he was finished, I said gratefully, "Thank you."

"It's no problem at all!" he said, beaming. "It's honor to help a little lady such as yourself, miss…" My cheeks flushed.

"Hazel," I replied, and his smile grew wider, almost splitting his face in half.

"That's a pretty name," he commented, and my blush deepened. "Well, Hazel-chan, I'll let you get some rest. I'll be back in an hour or so to check on you, okay?" I nodded, and he stepped out of the room, the door clicking softly behind him.

I sank down into the sheets of the bed, feeling pleasantly full for the first time in _days_.

Tears streamed down my face as I gripped the sheets weakly. "I'm alive," I whispered, realization and relief sinking in. "I'm alive! Oh hell, I'm freaking alive!"

I grinned wildly through the tears, slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Sanji quietly opened the door an hour later, peering in to see if there were any problems with Hazel. She was a pretty little brunette, and he knew that she was going to be a total knock-out when she got older.

He couldn't wait.

He noticed that she was asleep, and smiling, he went to close the door again, when something caught his attention. He stepped into the room, closing the door gently behind him, and crept over to the bed.

Tear tracks ran down her thin and sunburned face, but she had a massive smile plastered across her lips. Sanji smiled too, reaching forward to brush the tears away. He remembered doing the same thing when he realized that he was still alive, back when he was a kid.

He tucked the blankets around her, before leaving the room and smiling.

She was in good hands now.

* * *

**Just so y'all know, this is going to be a _NON-ROMANCE NAKAMA-SHIP STORY. _There might be crushes (because she's thirteen - well, eleven in this chapter!), but there's not going to be any romance. The only character that's even _close_ to her age is Chopper, and I'm not into that sort of junk. So deal with it. There'll be fluff, there'll be good morals, but no romance.  
**


	2. Kid Eaters and Cannibalism

**What's this? _TWO_ chapters in one day?! Think of it as an early present. :)**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Ow ow ow OW _OW_! Stop, stop!" I begged, jerking away weakly as my face, arms, and neck burned. "Are you _trying_ to kill me?!"

"Sorry, Hazel-chan, but you're going to need this," coaxed Sanji, pulling away. He had a grimace on his face, like this was hurting him too. His fingers were coated in a soothing balm, and he took another big glob from the jar he was holding. "Trust me, this will help. Just give it a little time."

"Owch! Bastard!" I snapped reflexively, and Sanji grinned a little in amusement before returning to the task at hand.

Sanji had been my constant visitor in these past two days, and had noticed immediately that I was suffering from a massive sunburn. I appreciated the gesture, but it still hurt.

I flinched slightly as he brought his fingers to my face again, and hissed as he rubbed the lotion into my raw skin, tears involuntarily springing up at the pain.

"Sorry," he apologized, his curly eyebrow creasing. He finished spreading the balm, and I sighed in relief as he capped the hellish jar. "You've been really brave with this, though," he said kindly, a smile crossing his face. I grumbled incoherently to him about how much of an asshole he was, and he snorted.

He put the jar away, and carefully grabbed my daily tray of broth. "Do you want to try feeding yourself today, or do you still want me to help you?" he asked, and I flushed.

"I wanna try," I said defiantly, and with a smile and a nod, he set the tray on my lap.

Carefully, with a shaking hand, I lifted the spoon to my mouth. As always, the food was excellent, but a lot of it was spilled down my front, my hand unable to stop the shaking properly.

"Oh, I'll get that," Sanji said, grabbing a napkin and dabbing at my front. I set the spoon down. This was worse than Sanji feeding me himself.

"On second thought, you can do it," I mumbled, and he smiled gently.

"Very well."

Once he finished, I watched him clean up. He straightened, and looked at me with a large smile.

"Well, it seems like you'll be able to handle solid foods tomorrow," he told me, and I found myself grinning. "And if your recovery keeps up, then we'll let you walk around for a little bit."

"Really?" My smile grew wider. "That's great!" My tail swished a little happily, and knocked a few pillows off the bed. "Oh…sorry…"

"It's fine," Sanji assured me, retrieving the pillows and placing them back. He helped me settle down, tucking the covers around my shoulders. "Just recover quickly, okay? That's your job right now. You don't have to worry about anything else."

I smiled a little more broadly. "Okay. Hey!" He paused, his curly brow arching in confusion, and I found myself beaming brightly at him. "Can I have something _awesome_ to eat tomorrow?"

Sanji chuckled. "What do you mean by 'awesome'?" he asked, and I drooled at the thought of the food I had in mind.

"STEAK!" I cheered, and Sanji swooned, swaying in place.

"Maaaaa you're so cute!" he crooned, before laughing. "Of course! I can get you a steak!"

"Yes!" I cheered, before grinning at the blond teen. "Thanks so much, Sanji! You're the best!"

"My pleasure, little missy," he said, reaching out and ruffling my hair. "I'll be checking in again in an hour." And with another ruffle, he exited the room.

* * *

I was getting restless. I hadn't been doing anything but sit around for days, and I was going _nuts_. I wanted to yell, run around, break something, dance the chicken dance…I dunno. Anything to get out of this bed without falling over or getting dizzy.

Sanji had already stopped by for lunch, so he was probably in the middle of doing whatever Assistant Head Chef duties he normally did. So that meant he wasn't going to be here in another hour…

Slowly, I pushed myself up. My arms shook a little, I was able to sit up. I turned around, and dangled my legs off the side of the bed. I took a deep breath, preparing myself so that I could stand up without getting sick or collapsing.

I stood up.

Almost immediately, I felt my vision darken as I swayed, and I stuck my tail straight out, hoping that it'd help with the balance. Thankfully, it did, and my eyes cleared. I felt a happy grin cover my face, and slowly, I began to inch my way to the door.

Success! A happy smile crossed my face as I leaned heavily against the door. Now there was the difficult task of opening said door.

Steeling myself, I took a deep breath before straightening and seizing the doorknob. Weakly, I twisted, and grinned when it swung open under my weight.

I began to make my way down the hallway, the wall next to me supporting most of my weight as I shuffled further down the hall. I could feel my smile grow bigger and bigger, though. I was doing it! I was walking again!

"OI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

I whirled around, lost my balance, and fell to the ground, hard. My vision blurred for a moment, and when it came back, I found myself staring up at a man. He had shaved head, a beard that consisted oddly of triangles, a mustache, a pointed nose, and dark eyes.

And did I mention that he was huge?

He looked really scary, growling at me. I felt myself cringe, and he seized me by the front of my shirt, hauling me up. For a brief moment, I had the irrational fear that he was going to eat me, but instead, he just shouted at me, _loudly_.

"How the hell'd you get up here?" he demanded, spit landing on my cheek as he yelled. "This is for employees only! What the hell are your parents doing, letting a bratty kid like you run around?!" He slung me over his shoulder. "C'mon, we're taking you to the boss!"

"What? Wait-" I babbled, pulling on his fingers to get him to let go, but I was so weak, I couldn't even make them shift a little. Dammit.

"Damn pipsqueak, wandering the halls," growled the man carrying me, and I swallowed nervously. What was he going to do to me…? My tail thrashed in agitation, and he opened the door to another room, stomping in.

"Boss! A shitty kid's been wandering around the employee halls!" he bellowed, throwing me down, and I cried aloud as I hit the hard tiled floor of the kitchen.

"You shithead! How dare you treat Hazel-chan like that!" I looked up to see Sanji striding up, holding a cast-iron skillet. He looked furious, and he was advancing threateningly on the man that threw me. I could see that all the other cooks in the kitchen had paused in their activities to watch the scene that the three of us were making, and I would've drooled at the delicious smells in the kitchen if it weren't for the kid-eater looming over me.

"Oh yeah? She may be a customer, but she's still wandering in restricted areas!" replied the man that threw me. "What should we do with her?"

"Leave her alone, Patty," replied Zeff, stomping up. He was wearing a chef's uniform this time, with the biggest chef hat I've ever seen. "She's the brat we found two weeks ago."

"What, the freak one with a tail?" I flinched, my tail curling up so that it was in between my legs.

"You bastard-!" Sanji looked like he was on the verge of attacking Patty with the skillet. "Apologize!"

"Don't tell me what to do, you shitty cook!"

"Don't call me a shitty cook! You're the shitty one!"

I was getting scared. I had never seen Sanji act like this before, and it was frightening. Not only that, but Patty the kid-muncher was scary too. I felt tears well up on my face as the arguing increased in both volume and intensity.

"Both of you, knock it off!" Zeff finally bellowed, clomping forward and shoving the two apart as my tears began to run down my face. "Can't you see that you're scaring the brat?"

Both Sanji and Patty stopped, and Sanji stared at me with a horrified look on his face as I tried to hide my tears from him.

Patty scowled, and Zeff continued. "Patty, Sanji will take care of this. You get back to work. Brat, I don't know what you were doing in the hallways, but you're to rest until you're fully recovered, got it?" I nodded, and Zeff beckoned for Sanji to take me away.

Sanji strode forward, and I flinched as he picked me up. He was gentle, though, and settled me against his chest, carrying me bridal style back down the hallway.

I looked away from him, still a little anxious, and I heard Sanji sigh.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

I remained silent, and Sanji continued on. "I would never intentionally scare or hurt you. You know that, right?" Nope, I didn't know that. Would've been nice to know that before I had a complete breakdown.

I shrugged, not knowing what to say in reply, and Sanji slowed down, stopping in front of my door. "Listen, Hazel," he said softly. "I will do my best to keep you safe. Okay?"

I felt tears spilling down my cheeks again. "Why?" I asked, looking up, and Sanji paused, a baffled look appearing on his face. "I'm just some girl with a freaky tail. I'm no one important to you! I'm just a nobody, a girl with no past!" I felt a faint echo of familiarity at the words, and couldn't help but feel bitter at the sensation; it made me hate myself, hate my tail, hate how I was _different_ from everybody else.

Sanji stared down at me, his jaw dropping slightly before he scowled. "I'm going to kill that shitty cook," he muttered to himself before meeting my gaze. "Hazel, you're not some girl with a freaky tail. Your tail makes you cute, and _you're_ cute! Not only that, but everyone has a past, and I know that you're a good girl that'll grow into a beautiful lady! To me, you're somebody, and I intend to be there every step of the way, understood?"

I stared at him in shock, before the dam broke. Tears flooded out of my eyes, and I wrapped my arms around his neck as I cried.

"S-sorry," I sobbed into his shoulder, and he patted my shoulder comfortingly as he nudged the door open with his foot.

"This has been hard on you, hasn't it, Hazel-chan?" he asked, and I nodded, wiping at my eyes. "The old geezer told me that you lost your memory." I nodded again, sniffling, and Sanji smiled kindly at me. "Don't worry, though; I'll do my best to give you many more happy memories, okay?"

"Okay," I sniffed, smiling up at the blonde.

He chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"That's my Hazel-chan."

* * *

**More fluff! Anyways, for your information, I'll be updating these once every two weeks. So the next update will be on December 28th, and it'll be delving more into the original plot of One Piece.  
**

**Posted and Edited: 12/14/2013**


	3. Chocolate and Chefs

**Sorry for being late! I know I promised it yesterday, but this Christmas holiday has been a roller coaster of emotion for me. For those of you that don't know, I've been suffering from depression, and the start of the holidays is supposed to be the start of my rehab...so to speak. Unfortunately, Christmas ended up being not too great, and my parents have been doing all they can to make me "happy." Not to mention that all us siblings are back home instead of spread across the country, so it's amazing that I've had _any_ time for myself.** **So here we go!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"Oi! Brat! Hurry and get your ass moving!" shouted Patty, glaring at me.

I glared right on back. "Shut up! I'm washing dishes as fast as I can!" It'd been two years since I joined the Baratie chefs, and I did most of the odd jobs. If a waiter was sick, I'd fill in for them. If there were dishes to wash, then it was my job to wash them. If Patty wanted some beer to drink, then _by golly _I'd better get it to him, or he'd hang me from the top of the Baratie by my tail, a threat that I wasn't willing to experience. It just sounded painful.

Grumbling, I grabbed a dish, using my tail to dry it off while I washed off another.

"AND STOP USING YOUR TAIL!"

"IT HELPS ME GET THE JOB DONE FASTER, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"IT'S UNSANITARY, YOU SHITTY LITTLE BRAT!"

"YEAH?! HOW'S THIS FOR UNSANITARY?!" I then shoved my hand in a nearby chocolate pan, causing Patty's eyes to bug out of his head. I gave my hand a long, sensual lick, before grinning darkly at Patty.

"YOU SHITTY BRAT!" He shrieked, almost apocalyptic with rage. "WASH YOUR HANDS!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, YOU SHITTY COOK!"

"Geez, Patty, leave her alone," grumbled another cook, in the middle of dicing some vegetables. "It's hard enough to work without you two always screaming at each other like a pair of little girls."

"But I _am_ a little girl," I pointed out as Patty seized the cook by the collar of his shirt.

"YOU WANT TO SAY THAT AGAIN?"

"Yeah, you're screaming like a little g-"

_BOOM_!

The entire ship rocked, and chefs yelled as they scrambled to catch both their balance and their food. I ended up knocking the entire chocolate pan on myself, and I giggled in delight at the mess, before attempting to lick all of the chocolate off of myself.

"What the hell?" demanded Patty, looking up and dropping the cook he was holding. "What the hell was that?"

"Maybe you farted too loud," I said with a snigger as I stuck a chocolate-covered hand in my mouth.

Patty whirled on me as I stuck out my tongue. "YOU LITTLE-!"

"You two, stop arguing! Brat, go and check out the ship, see what happened to make it rock like that," ordered another chef. I nodded, tossed my chocolate-covered hair impishly at Patty (who visibly seethed at the action), and pranced out of the room, my tail waving behind me as I left little chocolate footprints behind me.

I wandered through the hall, uncaring about the mess I made as I checked each room for any sign of damage. "What was that?" I muttered, frowning when I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "I mean, it sounded like we hit something, but the Baratie's anchored." I climbed a flight of steps and opened the Head Chef's room. "Maybe something hit us-HOLY SHIT!"

The entire side of the wall was damaged, with a cannonball sitting in the middle of the room. Zeff was leaning against his bed, blood trickling down the side of his face. His chef's hat was knocked askew, and he was glaring at the cannonball like it had done a personal offence against him. For all I knew, it probably had.

"Geezer, are you all right?" I yelped, rushing towards him. Zeff nodded, pushing himself up.

"Who the hell shot a cannonball _through my room_?" Oh yeah, he was mad. I made a face as blood trickled into his mustache. Oh, and did I mention that he changed his look? Instead of having a large, blonde beard, he shaved the beard off and braided his ridiculously long mustache. I personally thought it looked weirder; it made it look like braided mustaches were growing out of his nostrils. Ew.

"Uh, I don't know. But don't worry! I'll go get help!" I sped out of the room. The geezer could be pretty scary when he was mad, and I wanted nothing to do with him until he calmed down.

"SANJI-NII!" I hollered as I ran through the hall and down the stairs. "THE GEEZER'S BEEN HIT BY A CANNONBALL!"

Sanji was just walking down the hallway to the kitchen, and he froze, dropping his cigarette. "…The hell?" he finally said eloquently after a moment of confusion. "Why're you covered in chocolate?"

"A cannonball hit the ship, and hurt the geezer in the process! And I'm covered in this because a chocolate pan fell on me, but I don't care!" I explained rapidly, and Sanji scowled, stomping out the cigarette before marching into the storage room and looking for a first aid kit. I trailed after him, wringing my hands with worry.

"Of all the stupid shit that had to happen…" he grumbled to himself. He searched some more, and after a few minutes, he growled in frustration. "Where's the shitty first aid kit?!"

"Uh…" I scratched my cheek, before snapping my fingers in realization. "Oh, Kalbi, the hemo-hemo…the-guy-who-bleeds-a-lot used the rest of it up by bandaging his finger yesterday. Y'know, you should really talk to the geezer about that. The cutting position is a bad job placement if you ask me. He should be put on oven duty or something."

Sanji massaged the bridge of his nose, leaning against a crate and looking like he didn't get paid enough for this shit. "I need a cigarette," he said finally, reaching for his pocket.

I nodded, before stepping out of the room. "Want me to keep looking for bandages?" I asked, and Sanji grunted, lighting a match with the bottom of his shoe.

"Might as well tell the others what happened," he said, lighting a cigarette and inhaling desperately.

"Got it," I said, hurrying out of the room, but Sanji's next call made me pause.

"Hazel?" I looked back at him, and he grinned, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Go clean yourself up."

I pouted, and stuck my tongue out at him before making my way to my bathroom.

I could tell it was going to be a long day.

* * *

"No waiters," I said numbly, staring blankly at the tiled floor in front of me. "What're we going to do with no waiters?"

"We're just going to have to have a few cooks assigned to the job," sighed Soufflé, a cook in charge of pastries and desserts.

"Good thing you're around too, because you could fill in for one of them," added Kalbi, his whole hand swathed in bandages. There was a knife sticking out of it, too, and I wondered how he managed that before shaking my head. It wasn't important right now.

I sighed despondently. "But only one."

It was late evening, and all of the waiters had quit, fed up with the violent restaurant. Apparently, the cannonball was the last straw for them. Honestly, I didn't blame them. First, we had the pirates that occasionally attacked. We also had chefs and cooks that were _just as violent_ as said pirates. And now, this shitty cannonball.

"I guess I'll help," sighed Sanji in resignation, getting up and shoving his hands into his pockets.

Not to be outdone, Patty leapt to his feet. "Me too!"

We all stared at Patty in disbelief and stunned horror. "Patty, you could hardly go a day without insulting someone," Dosa the baker pointed out.

Patty puffed out his large chest. "So what? I'll be the best waiter, you'll see!"

Everyone sighed or rolled their eyes. I did both.

"Well, we've got a new errand-boy," Sanji told us, folding his arms. "He's the one that caused the damage with the cannonball. The old man's making him work here for a year."

Everyone started to mutter amongst themselves.

"Good riddance…"

"The least he could do after trashin' our ship."

"He'll be starting tomorrow morning, so everyone, do you best. If you don't, then the old man and I will kick you off this ship, got it?" Sanji threatened.

Everyone straightened. "Yes!"

I giggled. With a group like this, tomorrow was bound to be interesting. Our cooks aren't even _half_ as polite as our waiters were.

* * *

"Look, the one sitting over there is Lieutenant Fullbody…" I paused in the middle of pouring tea to look over to the middle of the dining area. Sanji was showing a man with a pinstriped suit and pink hair to his seat.

"No way, a Marine Lieutenant eating here?"

"Look how graceful he is…" gushed a woman, watching him as he sat down.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to the couple before me.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" I asked politely, and they smiled.

"No, this is fine for now," said the man, and I bowed.

"Then I'll be back soon with your food," I said with a smile, and they nodded, turning back to their conversation.

I left for the kitchen, meeting up with Sanji along the way. "Hey, can you serve the food to them?" he asked, jerking his head at Lieutenant Fullbody with a thunderous scowl. "He's being an asshole, and I can't stand it."

"Sure," I agreed with a shrug. "Order number twenty-eight is for table number three," I said, jerking my thumb over to my table, and Sanji nodded, clasping my shoulder briefly in thanks. He headed inside the kitchen before appearing a moment later with two steaming bowls of soup.

"Here's their food," he told me, placing the bowls in my hands. "Make sure not to spill it, okay Hazel-chan?"

I smiled at him. "Sure!" I chirped, before carefully making my way over to the Marine Lieutenant's table, having no problem smiling at the pair. I had to force myself not to giggle, though, because seriously, what kind of man has _pink hair_? If he worked here, he'd be gone in two seconds _flat_.

"Here's your soup, sir, ma'am," I said, placing the bowls in front of the two customers.

"Whatever happened to the other waiter?" asked Fullbody, his eyes roving over me with suspicion, and I smiled politely.

"Oh, you mean Assistant Head Chef?" I asked brightly. "He's got several tables at once, and expresses his sincere apology about not being able to deliver the food himself."

I was a _really _good liar. It was almost impossible _not_ to be one when living on the Baratie, where the cooks lied _all the time_. The same principles applied to fighting, insulting others, and cooking.

"That's quite all right," Fullbody's date said, smiling kindly at me. Fullbody nodded stiffly, and I bowed to them.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" I asked, and they shook their heads. "Very well. I shall be back momentarily." I could hear Patty across the room calling one of the customers a dumbass, and I went to herd the cook back into the kitchens. He really wasn't very good at acting like a regular human being.

"OH, WAITRESS!" I paused, looking back at Fullbody's table. He was looking straight at me, and frowning in confusion, I went to go see what was wrong.

"Yes sir?" I asked, seeing Patty leave for the bathrooms (and inwardly breathing a slight sigh of relief), and Fullbody scowled.

"Hey!" he demanded, slamming a hand down and making me jump. "Is it customary for your restaurant to serve insects?!"

"Huh?" I looked at his soup, and sure enough, there was a bug in it. I gawked at it. That wasn't there before…

"What's all the commotion?" asked Sanji, striding up with a lit cigarette.

"What's this bug in my soup?!" shouted Fullbody, pointing at the insect.

Sanji coolly shrug his shoulders. "Pardon me, sir," he said politely, but I could tell right away that he was itching to kick Fullbody in the face, "but I'm afraid that I do not know. You see, I'm not very familiar with all the different types of insects…"

Fullbody's face contorted with anger and embarrassment, and Sanji placed a hand on my shoulder, steering me away. I turned away, fully intending on heading back to the kitchens, but Fullbody's voice stopped me.

"What the hell? What kind of service is this, getting food from some girl with a tail? It's barbaric! And why are you letting a monster like her work here?" he spat, and Sanji's face immediately darkened. I cringed, and a lot of people around me began to whisper.

"Tail?"

"Oh, it's true, look! It's curled right next to her leg…"

"Oh, the poor girl. She looks rather upset…"

"But it _is_ a little strange…"

I fought the urge to curse or cry. Somehow, it was _always my damn tail…_!

"I demand that you remove this creature from my sight!" Fullbody exclaimed, glaring at me. Sanji looked like he was about to explode now, and his voice was laced with anger as he calmly spoke to the Marine Lieutenant.

"I suggest you take your words to Hazel-chan back," he said coldly, and Fullbody glared in return.

"Why should I? I'm a paying customer! I can have whoever I want as a waiter, not some animal!" he said arrogantly, throwing the bowl of soup at the floor. My breath hitched painfully, and I looked down with shame.

"Fullbody…" his dining companion murmured, worried.

The other chefs in the dining area were rushing forward at the look on Sanji's face. "Somebody stop him! Stop Assistant Head Chef Sanji!" they cried, frantic.

And Sanji lunged at Fullbody.

* * *

I chewed on my lip anxiously as Sanji attacked the Marine Lieutenant, all the while feeling as if the entire situation were my fault. Well, my tail's fault, anyways. Sometimes I wished I didn't even have the stupid thing, with all the problems that seemed to come with it.

Finally, Sanji stopped, and he seized Fullbody's bloody head, hoisting him into the air. His face was dark, and he growled, "Remember this. Going against a cook of the sea is tantamount to suicide. Don't you dare waste food, and don't you _dare_ call Hazel an animal. As far as I know, she's more human that you are, you shitty bastard."

He squeezed Fullbody's head, just as a shriek rang out.

"AAAAAAHHH!" I looked over to see Patty gawking at Sanji in horror. "The customer is being -!" He took a deep breath, his chest swelling. "YOU AGAIN, SANJI?!" he bellowed, and Sanji paused in his squeezing, glancing over his shoulder. "What the hell are you doing to our customer?! Not only that, that's also a marine lieutenant!"

"Hm? Oh, it's just you, shitty cook," Sanji said, apparently not noticing the angry red swelling of Patty's face.

"WHAT?! I'm not going to stand by and let a shitty cook call me a shitty cook!" screeched Patty, marching forward. "It's a restaurant's duty to serve its customers! Just how do you explain injuring one of our precious customers?!"

Sanji scowled and dropped Fullbody. "So what if he's the customer? He dared to waste food, insult a cook, and insult Hazel-chan! I was only teaching him a lesson."

"Sanji-nii, please," I begged, stepping forward and placing a hand on his arm, but he shook his head minutely at me. I swallowed, and stepped back. If he didn't want me to interfere in the fight, then I guess I wouldn't interfere.

"What's with this place…?" panted someone, and we all paused, looking over at Fullbody. He was sitting up, glaring at us through a blood-coated face. "How can there be a restaurant that ill-treats its customers to this extent?! I'll close down this restaurant! I'll report this place to the government!"

I bit my lip in worry. That wouldn't be good at all if he actually carried through on that threat.

Then Sanji stepped forward. "You're going to report us, are you now?" He asked offhandedly. "If that's the case, then I'm going to have to kill you now."

Silence fell at this statement, before Fullbody let out a girlish squeak. "What…?!"

"No, stop!" shouted several of the other cooks. Two rushed forward to seize Sanji around his middle and arms as he leapt toward Fullbody. It was quite a sight, seeing two big chefs holding a thrashing Sanji in place.

"GOD, IT JUST MAKES ME SO ANGRY-"

"Hold him down, or he might seriously kill him!"

"-TO SEE A DAMN SPOILED SON OF A BITCH LIKE YOU!"

"Stop it, Sanji! You've gone too far!"

"JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

Fullbody squeaked, tears springing up from fright as he slowly inched back.

Then the ceiling broke.

Two figures crashed down with a shout through the hole in the ceiling, and all activity stopped to watch the new spectacle that had arrived.

My jaw dropped as I took in one of the figures. One of them was Zeff, with a thin bandage around his head. Another was a lanky boy close to Sanji's age, wearing a red vest, blue shorts, and a straw hat.

"Ugh…" Zeff groaned, pushing himself upright.

"Whew, that scared me," sighed the boy with a grin, relieved as he got up as well.

"Sir, what are you doing?" asked our meat chef, Carne, and Zeff grumbled before looking up.

"Shit! The ceiling of my beautiful restaurant is-!" He cut himself off and whirled on the boy with the straw hat. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU DAMN BRAT!"

"You destroyed it yourself!" the boy argued indignantly.

"Geezer! Stop Sanji-nii!" I said hastily, quickly stepping in before another argument could escalate. Zeff stopped, before looking over to where Sanji was struggling with the chefs.

"Hmm?" Zeff stepped over to Sanji. "Sanji! Are you running wild in my restaurant again?"

"Shut up, you shitty geezer!" Sanji snapped, looking pretty pissed.

The boy came to stand next to me, watching the scene with interest as Patty piped up. "It's exactly as it seems, sir! And this time Sanji beat up some idiot Marine Lieutenant!"

Zeff scowled and kicked Sanji in the face with his peg leg. "Are you trying to ruin my restaurant, you little shit?!" Sanji flew and landed in a heap in front of us, and the boy looked around, before his eyebrows rose and he flung out an accusing finger.

"Ah! Isn't that the guy that fired the cannonball?" Everyone stopped to look at the boy, then to Fullbody. "Why's he all bloodied up?"

Zeff's scowl grew more pronounced as he kicked Fullbody hard enough to send him flying to the door. "AND YOU! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY RESTAURANT!"

Patty nodded in satisfaction, crossing his large arms. "The customers are gods!" he declared, not even realizing the stupidity of the statement at the moment, especially since it was coming from him.

Sanji rolled his eyes, taking a drag on his cigarette. "Not surprising that you'd call them gods, considering how they can actually stomach your shitty food."

"Patty! Sanji! If you're going to fight, do it in the kitchen!" ordered Zeff before another fight could break out between the cooks. I sighed. It was the same routine, every damn day.

At that moment, the front door burst open. "Lieutenant Fullbody! It's an emergency!"

It was another marine, and it seemed one without rank. He also had blood trickling down the side of his face. "Forgive me sir, but he's escaped from the ship's prison!"

The boy next to me crossed his arms. "This place sure is noisy," he commented, and I rolled my eyes. 'Noisy' was an understatement.

"You don't know the half of it," I told him.

"The underling of Pirate Krieg escaped!" said the marine frantically. "It took seven of us to capture him, but now he's gone!"

"That's impossible!" Fullbody exclaimed. "He shouldn't even have the strength to move! He was on the verge of death three days ago when we captured him, not to mention that he hasn't had a single scrap of food since then!"

Customers began to frantically whisper among themselves.

"A member of K-Krieg's crew?"

"The same pirate that's said to be the strongest in all East Blue?"

"Hazel," murmured Sanji, appearing at my shoulder, "I want you to get into the kitchen."

"But Sanji-nii-" I protested, not wanting to leave, but he cut me off with a stern glare.

"_Now_," he ordered, and I gulped, nodding and making a hasty retreat into the kitchen. Moments later, I heard the bang of gunfire, and screaming from inside the dining area.

"What just happened?" asked Soufflé, his eyes widening.

"That sounded like a gun…" Kalbi said, looking startled and peering out of the kitchens.

"Some guy just escaped from the Marine's ship," I explained, feeling a little shaky, but otherwise fine. It wasn't the first time a pirate's pulled a gun in here, and it wouldn't be the last. "He's a member of Krieg's crew."

"WHAT?!" shouted all the cooks.

At that moment, there was a crash outside, and cheering. We all stopped.

"Guess somebody took care of the pirate," commented Breve, the cook in charge of drinks.

"Probably the boss," muttered Gnocchi, the cook in charge of pastas. "All right, everyone! Back to work!"

Everyone scurried back to their positions, and a moment later, Sanji stepped into the kitchen, his face unusually grave.

"What happened?" I asked in a hushed tone of voice, and he sighed, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"A marine was killed, and the pirate demanded food, since he was starving. Patty threw him out." Sanji grabbed a plate and began ladling fried rice onto it. "Hazel, grab a glass and fill it with tea, will you?" I nodded, hurrying off to do as he asked.

I knew what he was doing. He was going to feed that pirate, because nobody deserved to starve. He knew what it was like; _I_ knew what it was like.

So we were going to help that pirate.

* * *

**And there you go! Next update's going to be on the fifth of January! I decided to update every week instead of every two weeks. :)**

**Posted on: 12/19/2013**


	4. Broken Dishes and Busted Tables

**Yay new chapter! It's a bit of a miracle that this came out on time; my siblings left back for college, and my youngest sister and I were trying to get through the entire Lord of the Rings series, with both hobbit movies included! :)  
**

**I hope that everyone had a good holiday and New Year's! I certainly did!**

**And thanks so much for the reviews, pizzafan123 and CallmeEevee! And for why she has a tail, CallmeEevee...if there's a race of people on Skypeia that all have wings, isn't it possible for there to be one that has tails? That's my reasoning, at least.**

**Anyways, on to chapter 3!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

The pirate was lying on the deck, almost motionless if it wasn't for his chest rising up and down. Sanji strode forward, placed the plate down in front of the man, and settled down next to him.

"Eat," he ordered, gesturing at me to put my glass of tea down. I nodded, and the pirate watched me with sunken eyes as I set it down and scurried back to stand next to Sanji.

The pirate watched us for another moment warily before his eyes fell on the food. His eyes seemed to light up, and he snatched the plate, devouring it at a rapid pace.

"I don't know what to say…!" cried the pirate through a mouthful of food. "I've never had such delicious food in my entire life!" I felt a twang of sympathy, my heart aching as I remembered the sensation. I knew exactly what that was like, the hopelessness, the helplessness, the fear that your life had come to an end... "I'm so grateful! I thought I was going to die! I thought it was all over for me!"

A grin crossed Sanji's face. "It's damn good, right?"

"Everything tastes great after you've been starved," I quoted with a small, fond smile at Sanji, who beamed back at me.

"LUCKY!" a voice shouted, and I jumped, my tail bristling as Sanji and the pirate jerked in surprise. "YOU GOT SOME FOOD!"

It was the boy with the straw hat.

He was grinning hugely, laughing in delight. "And you were almost about to die too, hahaha!" I placed a hand on my racing heart, urging it to slow down. "Hey, cook! Join my crew, will ya? Join my pirate ship!"

"Huh?" Sanji, the pirate, and I were all making faces of disbelief at the boy as he laughed.

* * *

"Oh…you're a pirate?" Sanji asked, taking a drag off his cigarette.

The boy, now known as Luffy, nodded. He had jumped down to sit on the railing next to us. "So why'd you shoot that cannonball at us?" Sanji asked in annoyance, and Luffy grinned.

"Oh, that was an accident!" he said happily. "It was just a cannonball that went astray from my self-defense."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked the pirate. He looked just as confused as the rest of us.

Sanji sighed. "In any case, you'd better not try anything funny to this restaurant," he warned. "The owner of this place used to be the captain of a pretty infamous pirate crew."

"Oh, that old man used to be a pirate?" Luffy asked in surprise.

Sanji and I traded grins. "And the rest of the cooks who came to work here out of their admiration for that geezer are all hot-blooded and crude enough to be pirates," I said, shaking my head in exasperation. Case in point, Patty and Carne.

"But it's quite appropriate considering all the pirates that frequent around these parts," Sanji explained.

"Not a quiet moment in this place, eh?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah…but it's a daily routine for us," Sanji said, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "There've even been some guests lately who come to see the pirates and the cooks duke it out."

"That, and the cannonball caused all the waiters to get scared and run away," I said to the boy, and he grinned in realization.

"Ohhh, so the reason he asked me to work here for a year was…eh, whatever. Hey, join my crew." He commanded Sanji, and I watched in amusement as Sanji's brow twitched

"I'll have to refuse that offer," Sanji replied seriously. "I've got my own reasons to keep working here."

"No, I refuse!" Luffy protested, determined.

We all stopped to stare at Luffy. "W-what?" I spluttere, my tail drooping in confusion. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"I refuse his refusal!" Luffy said, crossing his arms. "You're a good cook, so we'll be pirates together!"

"Oi oi, at least hear me out," Sanji protested indignantly, and Luffy's stance relaxed.

"Fine then, what's your reason?" he asked.

"No need to tell you," Sanji replied stubbornly, and Luffy's jaw dropped.

"But you just told me to hear you out!"

"All I meant was that you should hear other people's opinions when talking! Don't make me chop you up, you damn straw hat-wearing shithead!"

"What did you say?! Don't you dare insult my straw hat, or I'll send you flying!"

I huffed, annoyed. "Stop it, you two!" I ordered, stepping in between the two and using my arms and tail to push them apart.

"Sorry, Hazel-chan," apologized Sanji immediately.

Luffy froze, staring at me with wide eyes. "WOAH!" he shouted, and I yelped in shock as he seized my tail. "AWESOME! Where'd you get that tail?! It's so cool!"

"HEY! Get your shitty hands off of Hazel-chan!" snapped Sanji, moving to shove Luffy away from me.

"Leggo! And what the hell are you talking about?! I've always had a tail!" I jerked my tail out of his grasp, and Luffy frowned.

"You're lying," Luffy said flatly, reaching for my tail.

"No I'm not! And stop it!" I bellowed, stepping out of his reach.

"Why not? It's so cool!" Luffy protested, grinning and reaching forward again.

"Because it's annoying, that's why!" I shouted furiously, kicking at him just as someone cleared their throat.

"Sorry to cut in the conversation," said the pirate, and I whirled around.

"What is it?!" I seethed, and he raised his hands in surrender.

"My name is Gin," he said calmly. "I'm a member of the Krieg Pirates. So you said you're a pirate?" he asked, addressing Luffy, and Luffy nodded. "Can I ask what your objective is?"

"I'm going to find One Piece," Luffy said with a huge grin, "which is why I'll go to the Grand Line!"

Shock crossed Gin's face. "…If you're still looking for a cook, I'm assuming you don't have very many people on your crew yet, right…?"

"With them, that makes six!" Luffy said happily, pointing to the both of us.

"Why're you counting me in?!" demanded Sanji.

"And you never asked me in the first place!" I said angrily, still not happy with Luffy.

"You don't seem like a bad guy, so let me give you a piece of advice," Gin said seriously. "Give up on going to the Grand Line."

Luffy stilled as Gin continued, listening attentively. "You're still young. No need to recklessly rush into things. Besides, the Grand Line is just one part of all the oceans in this world. If you want to be a pirate, there's plenty of other seas for you to roam out there."

"Oh…" Luffy said in surprise. "Do you happen to know something about the Grand Line?"

"No…I don't…I don't know anything," Gin said, placing his hands on either side of his head, staring at the floor of the deck as horror dawned on his face. "That's why it's so terrifying!"

"For a member of the Krieg Pirates, you sure are acting like a big scaredy cat," said Sanji flatly, and I found myself nodding in agreement.

"What's a Krieg?" Luffy asked, oblivious.

* * *

"See ya, then. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"But I'm still gonna go to the Grand Line!" Luffy said, puffing out his cheeks in protest. Gin smirked and shook his head, looking up at the three of us from the little sailboat that we leant him.

"Ha ha, well, you are free to do what you want. It's not like I have the right to stop that," he said reasonably, before looking up at me and Sanji. "And Sanji, Hazel," he added, and we perked up at our names. "Thank you so much for the food and drinks. I'm forever in your debts." He grinned widely. "That meal was the best meal I've ever had. Would it be alright to come here to eat again?"

"Sure, anytime," Sanji said pleasantly, and I smiled.

"Try and have some money next time," I told him with a snicker. "Otherwise Patty might throw you out again."

"I'll try," laughed Gin.

"HEY, ERRAND-BOY! So that's where you were!"

"Agh, the old man!" yelped Luffy, looking like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar.

Zeff scowled, and I watched as his eyes landed on Gin, the boat, and the empty plate and cup on deck. Ahhhh shit, we're screwed.

"Go, Gin," said Sanji, and Gin rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry. Just because you gave me food, you're going to get scolded," he said, apologetic, and Sanji walked over to the dishes, picking them up and breaking them.

"Sanji-nii!" I exclaimed, scandalized, and he threw them overboard.

Sanji grinned at me, before looking up to Gin and holding up his empty hands. "How can I be scolded if there's no proof?" he asked, and I stared at Sanji before shaking my head in exasperation, poking him in the ribs with my tail.

"You're still going to be in trouble," I muttered, and Sanji wrapped an affectionate arm around my shoulders.

"It's alright, I can take it," he murmured in reply.

"Don't you get caught again, Gin!" Luffy called, waving goodbye as Gin bowed to us. Gin got up, waved, and began to sail off into the distance.

"Sanji! Brat! Errand-boy! All of you get back to work!" bellowed Zeff, and I gave Zeff a cheeky salute before hurrying off to do my job. I saw the look of fond exasperation on Zeff's face, and giggled a little.

Zeff may be rough and tough, but he was a big softie on the inside.

* * *

"I'm Luffy! Starting today, I'll be the Errand-boy! Nice to meet you!" Luffy shouted into the kitchen, his arms crossed and a determined expression on his face.

We all ignored him.

"Table six's dessert isn't done?!" demanded Carne from over by the meats.

"Who took the order for that?!" asked Soufflé hotly, making the dessert as fast as he could.

"Wasn't it you?!" Kalbi asked, looking back at Soufflé.

"Can't you see I'm freaking busy?!"

"Yeah, busy spacing out!"

"What the hell did you say to me, you prick?!" All this time, Luffy was sitting in a chair, watching the activities with interest as he picked his nose.

"IF YOU'VE GOT NOTHING BETTER TO DO, THEN WASH THE DISHES!" yelled five cooks at once.

Luffy got up. "Okie-dokie," he said cheerfully, strolling over to the sink.

I set some plates down next to him in a rush. "Make sure you wash them properly," I told him sternly, despite the fact that I hardly ever paid attention to my own advice. "No crumbs or anything, got it?"

Luffy nodded, a frown on his face as he grabbed the first plate. I seized a tray full of food and rushed back out into the dining.

"Here's your food, nice and hot!" I said with a smile on my face, and the couple I served beamed.

"Thank you!"

"Now, is there anything else you need?" I asked, and they shook their heads. "Then I will be back shortly! Enjoy your meal!"

"What a cute girl," I heard the woman say to her dining companion, and I flushed at the compliment before stepping into the kitchen.

I was met with yelling as soon as I walked through the kitchen doors, and I gawked at the sight of a pile of broken dishes.

"Hey Errand-boy! Just how many freakin' dishes have you broken already?!"

"Ah, my bad! I forgot to count!"

"YOU'RE APOLOGIZING FOR THAT?!"

"Never mind!" snapped Soufflé. "Alright, enough with the dishes! Just clean up instead!"

"You can count on me!" Luffy said, snatching up a plate and eating everything off of it. "All clean!"

"Don't eat the food, you bastard!" shouted another chef from the side.

"MY GOD THAT WAS THE MAIN DISH!" screeched Carne, his eyes bulging in their sockets.

"Delish!" Luffy said happily, grabbing a broom and a bucket as he chewed the food. "Oh, I'll clean this," he said, reaching for a pot on the stove and grabbing it with his bare hand. There was the sound of something sizzling before Luffy threw it up into the air with a shriek.

"HOT!" The pot spun across the room, knocking dishes down and creating mass chaos.

"JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF THE KITCHEN!" roared all of the cooks.

"C'mon," I growled, seizing Luffy by the wrist and dragging him out. "Let's go see Patty. He'll give you your assignment."

Luffy just blinked in confusion.

* * *

"You're going to take orders, you hear?!" growled Patty, squeezing Luffy's cheeks together with one hand. "Just ask the customers what they want to eat and come back! You can at least do that, right?"

"Y-yes…" Luffy said, his voice muffled by Patty's hand. I shook my head and wandered down to take orders from another table.

I was returning to the kitchens when I heard a commotion at one table…involving Luffy shouting at a group of teenagers.

I then shrieked aloud in horror as Luffy dropped a booger into a green-haired teen's cup.

"Luffy-!" I began, rushing forward to yell at the older boy, when the green-haired guy seized the cup and forced him to drink it, shouting all the while.

"ACK! How could you do that to me?!" gagged Luffy, rolling on the floor in a flail of limbs. The green-haired guy was standing and glowering at Luffy.

"I should be asking you the same thing!" His other two dining companions, a pretty redhead and a guy with a bandana and a ridiculously long nose were howling with laughter and pounding the table. Did they all know each other…?

"O'BLESSED ARE THE OCEANS FOR BRINGING ME THIS FINE DAY!" Oh, good grief, that's Sanji…He must've seen the redhead. "O'LOVE! LAUGH IF YOU WILL, AT MY POOR SELF WHO CANNOT ENDURE HIS TORTUOUS PASSIONS!" Sanji twirled over to the redhead, who abruptly stopped laughing in the face of this stranger. "AS LONG AS I CAN BE WITH YOU, I'M PREPARED TO WALK ACROSS ANY PATH, BE IT THE PATHS OF A PIRATE OR A DEVIL! BUT ALAS! 'TIS TRAGIC THERE IS SUCH A GREAT OBSTACLE STANDING BETWEEN THE TWO OF US!"

The others were watching Sanji in confusion, and I sighed, striding over to the blond and tugging on the jacket of his suit. "Sanji-nii-"

"By obstacle, do you mean me, Sanji?" Zeff asked, leaning on the pillar in the center of the dining room. I dropped Sanji's jacket as he twitched.

"Ah, the geezer!"

Zeff drew himself up, scowling at Sanji. "It's a good chance. Just go and be a pirate. I don't need a guy like you in my restaurant."

"What-?!" Sanji took a deep breath as I pulled again on his jacket, calming himself down.

"Hey, you damn geezer," he began crossly, "I'm the Assistant Head Chef of this place. So what do you mean exactly when you say that I'm not needed?!"

"You cause too much trouble with the guests," Zeff pointed out, also cross. "And if they happen to be female, you drool all over them." I sniggered aloud at this, because it was true. Hell, if they had boobs and _breathed_, he'd swoon all over them.

Sanji scowled at me, and I abruptly stopped as Zeff continued on. "You also can't cook a decent meal to save your life. You're just unnecessary baggage, holding this restaurant down. And as you probably know, none of the other cooks want you here as well. So whether it be a pirate or something else, it's just better for you to get the hell out of my shop."

I felt my jaw drop at what I heard. That-that was-!

"Geezer, that's going too far!" I shouted, appalled. Sanji looked like it didn't hurt him at all, but I could tell that the words stung from the way his jaw was set.

Sanji strode forward and grabbed Zeff's collar. "So that's what you wanted to say all along, you damn geezer?!" Sanji asked sharply. "Ignoring all your other comments, if there's one thing I won't stand for, it's someone insulting my cooking!" I grimaced with sympathy. "No matter what you say, I'm staying here! Got that?!"

Zeff grabbed Sanji, and threw him into the table. Sanji grunted in pain, and dishes went flying as Zeff shouted, "How dare you grab the collar of the head chef!"

I noticed that the redhead, the green-haired guy, and the long-nosed guy had all grabbed their food before Sanji was thrown into the table.

"Sanji-nii!" I hurried forward and helped Sanji up. "Are you alright?"

Sanji hissed as he sat up, and he pounded a fist against the ground. "Damn it!" he growled, furious. He straightened, pushing me aside. "You can try to chase me out all you want, but I'll continue to be a cook here, you hear?!" He shouted at Zeff. "Until the day you die, at the very least!"

Zeff walked away, clearly dismissing him. "I ain't dyin'. I'll live another hundred years."

Sanji gritted his teeth. "Pretty mouthy for a damn geezer, aren't you?!"

Luffy jumped over to Sanji. "Haha, alright! He gave you permission! Now we can be pirat-"

"AS IF!" Sanji roared. I chewed my lip. Sanji worked here more out of obligation than anything. Maybe he'd be happier if he went with some pirates. He told me once that he wanted to find an ocean called All Blue.

"Sanji-nii, maybe it'd be better if you did-" I began, but Sanji whirled around and glared at me with a ferocity I had never seen aimed at me before.

"Stop it, Hazel," he snapped furiously, and I froze, my eyes widening. "Nothing you say will change my mind. Stop trying to convince me to go!" And with that, he stomped off.

I faltered, feeling as if I had just been slapped. I mean, Sanji had always treated me nicely (most likely because I was a girl), and I had always seen him as an older brother figure ever since I recovered from my starvation. We had never argued before, and this was the first time he had spoken to me like that.

I sniffed, hurt, before shaking my head and squaring my shoulders.

"I'll get you guys a new table," I said, impatiently brushing away my tears, and the redhead smiled sympathetically at me.

"Thank you," she said, and I hurried away to find a new table. After I was done with that, I was going to finish my duties, and then go and stay in my room for the rest of the evening.

* * *

Sanji was mad at himself.

He was mad that the geezer made him lose his cool in front of everyone in the dining room, he was mad that he got beaten down in front of everyone by the damn old geezer, and most of all…

Most of all, he was mad at himself for sending a young lady to her room crying.

Never in his entire life had he treated any member of the fairer sex with anything short of kindness. He loved girls to pieces, especially the older and more beautiful ones. But even so, even if the female was ugly, or cruel, or even a little girl, he still treated them with respect and kindness they deserved.

Until today, that is.

He didn't even realize that he had said something harsh until he was picking up dinner for himself, after the restaurant had closed for the night. All the cooks were sitting in the dining area, talking, laughing, and joking, and Sanji had made his way over to the table that he and Hazel shared.

Except…Hazel wasn't there. Confused, he asked the next cook that she was familiar with, Soufflé, and the man hadn't seen her all evening either.

"I think she's in her room," Kalbi said, his forehead creasing as he thought. "She looked pretty upset earlier, so I wouldn't be surprised if she just stayed there the whole night."

"Oh, right, she did, didn't she?" asked Soufflé, taking a swig of beer from his mug. "I doubt she'd want to talk to you right now, Sanji."

"What? Why?" asked Sanji, completely baffled. Did he do something to make her angry? That happened sometimes, but more often than not, she forgave him for it.

"Well, you pretty much just blew her off in front of all the customers," Kalbi answered, frowning slightly. Sanji's stared at Kalbi in shock as Carne spoke up.

"Oh yeah, that was pretty harsh of you, you shitty bastard, yelling at a little girl like that. You looked like you were going to rip her head off."

Sanji leapt to his feet. He remembered what had happened now, and it needed to be remedied immediately.

"I'll be right back," he said, and he rushed out of the room.

* * *

I traced circles on my sheets with my tail, hugging my knees to my chest with both of my arms. Sanji was scary like that. I mean, usually he was nothing but kind to me, but at that moment…I don't think I've ever been so scared of him before. He looked furious and threatening, and I was scared that he was going to yell at me like that again if I went to go see him again. It was dumb, I know, but I still felt apprehensive at the thought of going to apologize to him.

I buried my head in between my knees, hiding the tears that sprang up. Damn it, I wished I was older like Sanji, or even Luffy. Then I could just leave this place and go looking for someplace to live, go and make new friends, maybe meet an old acquaintance of mine and possibly get my memory back-

Someone knocked on my door, but I didn't reply. Only one person knocked, and that was Sanji. I didn't want him to come in. I didn't want him to yell at me again. I didn't want him to see that I'd been upset this whole time.

I didn't want to be seen as some annoying little brat that cried all the time.

"Hazel-chan?" The door creaked open, and I refused to look up at him. "Ah-damn it, Hazel, I'm sorry."

My mouth twisted downwards rebelliously. Zeff or someone probably made him come and apologize.

I heard him sigh, and he settled himself down onto the bed next to me. He smelled like cigarettes and good food. "Look, Hazel, I'm really sorry for what I said to you earlier today. I just had my pride beaten down, and I took it out on you. Can you forgive me?"

I was silent for a moment, before I croaked out, "Why?" My voice cracked, and it was painfully obvious that I had been crying. "Why do you care? I'm just some annoying little brat. You don't need forgiveness from a freakish kid with a tail."

Sanji exhaled loudly. "Hazel, you're like my little sister, even with the tail. Sometimes brothers get annoyed at their younger sisters, but they still care for them all the same." I kept my mouth shut, and Sanji continued. "I know you were trying to help me out. Truth is, I'd like to leave, but that means that I'd be leaving you behind. Not only that, I still owe the old geezer for saving my life nine years ago."

Tears began to trickle down my cheeks, and I looked up at Sanji, sniffing.

"Do you really mean that?" I asked, my lip trembling, and Sanji blinked, startled.

"Mean what?"

"That I'm like a little sister to you? And that you don't want to leave me alone?"

Sanji smiled broadly, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Every single word."

I began to cry, this time from happiness, and Sanji panicked for a moment. "Oi oi, don't cry! Ah-shit-Hazel, I didn't mean to make you upset-"

I began hitting him with my tail. "S-stupid! I'm h-happy! This is the h-happiest I've ever b-been since I l-lost my m-memory!"

Sanji looked at me in surprise for a moment before a gentle smile crossed his face. He pulled me up against his side and rubbed my back, occasionally batting away my tail as I continued to hit him with it.

"I'm glad you're happy, then."

* * *

**If Sanji seemed OOC to you, then it was intentional. He's a super noble guy, so I think if he had a younger sister, he would treat her a lot nicer than most older brothers do to their younger sisters. I also have the feeling he would have an older-brother complex; he tends to be...obsessive over stuff like that. But even the best big brothers tend to loser their temper against their younger sisters, so it's to be expected that he would get annoyed with her once in a while.  
**

**Anyways, please review! I love getting feedback! Also, if there's a mistake somewhere in it, let me know!**

**Posted: 1/5/2014 at 9:24pm**


	5. Feeding and Fighting

**Okay, I know what you're thinking about my late updating, but I HAVE AN EXCUSE! I had been looking for work these past few weeks, and I FINALLY GOT A JOB! So it's seriously cut in on my writing time, since I'm not a lazy bum anymore. Another reason why it took so long was because I was unsatisfied with what I originally wrote, so I decided to completely re-write this chapter. It took a while, and I apologize sincerely for that. And thanks, Kamai-Rui and kage kitsune 14 for reviewing! They just brighten up my day!**

**Now, onto the chapter! (and you guys better appreciate all the work I put into this!) ;)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

It'd been two days since Gin left, and I was serving tables with a growing unease building up in my gut. Something was about to happen, I knew it would. And the morning fog that had rolled in didn't help matters either.

I wasn't the only one feeling it. The entire restaurant was subdued, with customers murmuring amongst themselves, and any fights that took place between the cooks were much more vicious thanks to the growing tension.

And then, it happened.

A glass crashed as a scream rang out from one of the customers, and I nearly dropped the tray I was holding onto the customer in front of me.

"IT'S DON KRIEG'S SHIP!"

This time, I _did_ drop the tray onto the customer, but the customer didn't pay attention. Rather, he and his date rushed over to the window, shedding bits of lettuce and tomatoes as they went.

Seeing as how he wasn't angry at me, I ignored the problem and rushed over to where everyone else was standing, shoving my way through the throng until I could get a good look at the ship.

It appeared out of the mist like a ghost ship from hell. The sails were ripped and torn, the wood was chipped and scarred, and there was no sign of life on that ship.

I shivered a little as someone breathed next to me, "A skull with two hourglasses at its side, to threaten their enemies…there's no doubt about it! That's Krieg's flag!"

"Why is he here?!" exclaimed a female customer with a cry, and I backed away from the window, feeling a shiver of fear run down my spine before I hurried back over to the cooks, back over to where I felt safe.

"Look what you did!" Carne was yelling angrily at Patty, who was visibly sweating. "They actually came here! So are you gonna chase them off for us, Mr. tough guy?!"

"I-it can't be!" Patty was muttering to himself. "The fleet admiral who commands over five thousand pirates is coming all the way out here to just avenge one of his underlings?!"

"Well, you better believe it! His ship's coming this way right now!" snapped Gnocchi angrily, jabbing a thumb over in the direction of the giant warship.

Luffy, who was standing nearby, looked at the ship with awe and delight. "Talk about a huge ship!" he exclaimed, thrilled, and totally misreading the situation. "Gin must've come here to repay his debt to you!"

"I don't think that's it," I told Luffy flatly, and Sanji nodded in agreement.

"But it _is _strange," he added, smoke trailing up from the cigarette hanging from his lips. "The ship's in complete shambles."

I glanced over at Zeff, but he just stared expressionlessly at the ship as Sanji continued, "To turn a gigantic galleon of that size into that sad state…that's no work of humans. They must've been caught up in some natural disaster."

The doors slammed open, and I jumped, tail bristling as two figures stood in the doorway. It took a second to recognize them, but when I did, my face paled, and my eyes widened.

It was Gin, supporting a man that could have only been Don Krieg.

He actually didn't look that great. He was a big man, from the heavy chains decorating the once-thick neck and the baggy overcoat he was wearing, but he was skinny, his features gaunt.

Much like how mine were when the cooks at the Baratie found me. Starving, and dying.

"Sorry for intruding…" he croaked feebly, staring at us with sunken eyes, and I shivered. He looked at us like he had seen hell. "But could I have some water…and food…? If it's money you want, I've got plenty…"

I swallowed hard, scooting over so I was standing by Sanji. He glanced down at me once, before he wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders, his presence soothing my fears as we looked at the pirate warlord.

"What the heck?" Patty wondered as he stared at the large man, baffled. "That weak, worn-out looking guy is Krieg?"

"He looks like he's starving," Luffy pointed out unhelpfully, and Sanji grimaced.

"Wonder what happened," he muttered to himself, and I shook my head.

"I can imagine lots of things, Sanji-nii," I whispered, and he glanced down at me before he squeezed my shoulders in understanding.

Suddenly, Krieg's eyes rolled up into his head, and he collapsed onto the ground, with Gin shouting in alarm. "Don Krieg!" He then turned to look at us in desperation. "I'm begging you! Please give him some food and water! Please save my captain! He'll die at this rate!"

My stomach twisted with sympathy. I remembered endless days of waiting, expecting death to come, the bleak sensation of feeling my energy draining away.

"Ahahahahaha!" My head snapped over to the one who laughed, and I wasn't at all surprised to see Patty grinning from ear to ear. "Perfect, just perfect! So this is what the infamous outlaw Don Krieg looks like!" he mocked, and Gin stared at Patty with confusion before desperation crossed his face.

"We have money this time! We're paying customers!" He glanced at me when he said this, and I froze a little from both fear for myself, and fear for him.

"Hey!" Patty ignored him completely, turning to face the crowd of customers that lingered. "Contact the marines immediately! This is the perfect chance for the government to arrest him! Don't let him have a single morsel of food!"

My breath hitched at this announcement, and I clung onto Sanji's jacket as his grip tightened imperceptibly around my shoulders. I glanced up at him, and saw that his expression was dark with anger.

"That's right!" a customer shouted. "Who knows what he'll do once he gets back on his feet!"

"This is retribution for all the crimes he's committed!"

"It's only right that he should die after all he's done!"

I pressed myself up against Sanji, and cringed unhappily as the cooks joined in.

"If we give him food and he recovers, it's only obvious that he'll attack our restaurant!" pointed out Breve. "I ain't giving him a single drop of water!"

I couldn't take this anymore, and neither could Sanji.

"C'mon," he muttered in my ear, guiding me to the kitchen. Once we were inside, he pushed me over to the bread.

"Cut a slice of the Ciabatta bread," he ordered. "Brush it with some olive oil. Once you're done, go grab some of the Caesar salad that Romaine made up earlier." I felt relief rush through me, and I smiled at the thought of being able to save someone from the worst form of torture in the world.

"Got it!" I exclaimed, rushing off to do as I was told. Within minutes, we both finished gathering enough food for a meal, and Sanji strode out of the kitchen, head held high and me walking right next to him, tail waving and a glare to challenge anyone that dared to protest.

"Hmph," I heard Patty grumble after hearing the two pirates beg for food. "Trying to earn sympathy points or something?"

"Hazel?" Sanji asked, and I looked up to the blond. He blew out a steady cloud of smoke, his hands obscured by the plate he was holding and a large bottle of wine. "Take care of him," he ordered with a nod at Patty.

I felt a mischievous smile creep over my face. "Alright!"

I ran towards Patty, jumped into the air, and twisted, just in time to see Patty look at me with surprise and alarm before one of my feet smashed into his face. It was very satisfying, watching him lift up from the ground and then crash-land onto the floor from the force of my kick. "Move it, Patty!"

Consider it payback for all the times he bullied me for the past two years!

The cooks and customers went silent in shock as Sanji stepped towards the two pirates with the food we prepared.

"Here, Gin," he offered, holding out the plate and the bottle of wine as I came to stand next to him. "Give this to him."

"Sanji! Hazel!" Gin cried happily in relief, and almost immediately, Krieg began to eat, tears of joy running down his face as he wolfed down the delicious food.

"Thank you!" he cried, shoving mouthful after mouthful of food into his mouth, but before Sanji and I could reply, Carne cut us off.

"Hey, Sanji! Hazel! Take that food back this instant!" he ordered, and I turned to glare at the chef.

"Why?" I demanded, turning to face the cook, and Carne sighed heavily, like he was trying to explain something very complicated to a kid.

"Do you have any idea what kind of a man he is!?" he demanded. When we just frowned at Carne in confusion, he pushed up his darkened glasses and continued, "The ruler of East Blue, the King of Deceptions! That's Don Krieg for you! He started out by disguising as a marine after escaping from prison! He then killed the marine officer in charge of the ship and took it over! That's how he became a pirate!"

He jabbed a finger at the pirate that was slowly beginning to finish the plate off, screeching, "Since then, he's attacked ports, towns, and other ships by hanging a marine flag! And when attacking his enemies, he hangs a white flag to attack them by surprise! He's a man who'll stoop to anything in order to win! And that's how he made his way to the top! His strength ain't no exaggeration either! You really think he'll just leave after eating?! That's utterly impossible for him! Letting a demon like him starve to death is for the good of this world!" he finished, and I felt a dark feeling of anger surge within me at the last bit. Despite all the bad things Krieg did, he didn't deserve to starve. Nobody deserved to die like that! Nobody!

But before I could say anything back, something caught the back of the head, and sent me crashing into nearby table, with Sanji skidding to a stop on the floor nearby as he landed on his back.

"Sanji! Hazel!" the cooks shouted with alarm while customers screamed and ran, and I dizzily stared up at the ceiling, wondering what the hell just happened.

"D-Don Krieg!" Gin shouted in horror. "This is different from what you promised!" Oh, so it was Don Krieg that threw me.

…Wait, why?

"I guided you here because you promised not to harm this restaurant!" Gin continued, his entire frame shaking in rage. "Not only that, but that man and girl are our saviors - urk!" He was cut off as Krieg's large hand wrapped around his throat, and the big pirate straightened.

"Ahh, that was a great meal," he commented, as if he wasn't strangling a man with one hand. "I feel like I'm back to my normal self again."

Groggily, I pushed myself up onto my elbows and lifted myself out of the wreckage I was sprawled in, and frowned in confusion as Sanji muttered with a grin, "So he reveals his fangs at last."

"Nice restaurant you've got here," Krieg said, gazing at all the cooks in the area before he grinned darkly. "I'll take it," he declared as he dropped Gin. Gin slid out of his grasp, and slumped to the floor in an attempt to get his breath back.

Huh. Carne wasn't kidding when he said all of that about Krieg.

"I told you so!" he snarled at Sanji and I as I slowly climbed out of the broken remains of the table. "This is the real Krieg! And now he's gonna take over our ship!"

"Ugh…" At the groan, I turned to Patty, and realized with glee that I had actually knocked him out. "What's with all the noise…?" He spotted Krieg towering over him, and began to stammer up a storm, scrambling back as fast as he could.

"Don Krieg," Gin coughed, pushing himself up onto his hands. "What about your promise?"

"Hey Gin!" Luffy shouted as I stumbled over to help Sanji up. "Are you alright?!"

Gin didn't have a chance to answer, because Don Krieg announced, "My ship's all worn out, so I've been wanting a new one. Once my business is done with you, I'll have you get off this ship. Right now, I have around a hundred subordinates on my ship. And they're all starving and critically wounded," he informed us. "So prepare enough water and food to feed all one hundred men of mine. There are a few who've already starved to death, so make it quick!"

Carne immediately shouted a protest. "You're asking us to willingly feed a hundred pirates, knowing that they're going to attack us and steal our ship later?! We refuse!"

"Refuse?" asked Krieg, like he had never heard the word before. And considering the cocky smirk he was wearing, I assumed that he actually hadn't. "Seems like we have a little misunderstanding on our hands. I wasn't asking whether or not you'd do it…_I'm ordering you_. And _nobody_ disobeys _my _orders!"

I take that back. He was spoiled rotten when he was a kid, and was never told the word, "No."

The cooks all began to panic, and I heard Gin moan, "Sanji…Hazel…I'm sorry…I never intended for things to turn out this way…"

"Sanji! Hazel! You bastards! It's because of you two that we're in this me - HEY! Where d'you think you're going?!" Patty shouted as Sanji turned back to the kitchens, with me trailing after him.

"To the kitchen," Sanji replied, spitting out a glob of blood and wiping his mouth as my vision spun a little. "In order to prepare enough food for a hundred people."

The cooks' reactions would have been hilarious if the situation wasn't so serious. "WHAT?!"

Gin looked up at the two of us with an awestruck, hopeful expression. "Sanji?! Hazel?!"

Krieg smirked. "Wise choice," he sneered, and Luffy stared at the two of us in silent contemplation.

There was a click, and Sanji paused, steadying me as I bumped into his back. The world was starting to spin faster, but I could still make out all the guns that circled us, so I froze as Sanji reached back to hold my shoulder.

"Who the hell do you think you are, you little pieces of shit!?" snapped Gnocchi, and I forced myself to fix my eyes on him as he aimed his gun at us. "Krieg's secret agents or something?! We ain't gonna let you take one step into the kitchen! We've had enough of your insane and reckless actions!"

Sanji spread an arm out as he steadied me with the other. "Fine, stop me if you wish," he declared brazenly, and the cooks' jaws dropped in disbelief. "Go ahead, shoot."

There was a long, tense pause, before a quiet chuckle broke it. "I know…" Sanji murmured, half to himself as he faced the cooks surrounding us. "I know that they're nothing but scum who aren't worth a dime saving. But to me, none of that matters. Thinking about the consequences of feeding a person…it's all such a big hassle." Sanji grit his teeth, and declared, "A cook should freely be able to feed anyone who's starving! Isn't that the point of being a cook?!"

Sanji suddenly stumbled and let go of my shoulder, and I grabbed him and hoisted him back to his feet as Patty turned away, having just delivered a heavy blow to the back of the blond's head.

"Patty!" A few of the cooks shouted, surprised, but Patty just grit his teeth.

"Hold them down!" he ordered, and I felt Kalbi grab me and pull my arms behind my back.

"Sorry, Hazel-chan," he murmured into my ear as I struggled, "but this is for your own good!"

"Sanji! Hazel! I know you feed the customers I chase away from time to time, and I'm not going to say who was right and who was wrong for all those times, but this time, it's all your fault!" growled Patty, glaring at the two of us and pointing an accusing finger. "So don't you _dare_ do any more unnecessary things! I'll protect this restaurant myself!"

Patty then turned to Krieg, who regarded him calmly. "Fortunately," Patty continued with a savage grin, "we only have Don Krieg alone to deal with. Just what can he do against all of us?! This is the Baratie, the restaurant that deals with all sorts of pirates on a daily basis. We're more than prepared to handle any customer that might come!"

He seized a strange bundle from the floor, and uncovered it, revealing an oddly-shaped, hand-held cannon. The violent chef swung it around to point it at the pirate, and he roared, "If you're finished with your meal, how about having an iron dessert?! Indigestion meat-ball cannon!"

The cannon went off with an almighty bang, and Krieg's eyes widened before it made contact with him and exploded.

"DON!" Gin hollered in fear as Patty hefted the smoking gun onto his shoulder, and I watched in awe and trepidation as Krieg was sent crashing through the entrance and onto the deck of the ship.

Smoke and dust hovered in the air as Patty observed the wrecked doors. "Agh, dammit. I ended up destroying the entrance. The owner's gonna have my head for this," he complained, but Carne shook his head.

"It's fine. It's just collateral damage from protecting the restaurant," he answered.

"What're you planning to do with his underlings on the ship?" Sanji asked, and Patty grinned darkly at the both of us.

"Well…maybe we oughta butter his ship up and roast it with fire," he suggested, and I glared at the chef as my head began to stop spinning. It didn't quite go away, but my vision was beginning to clear up.

"That's the best dessert you've got, you lousy cook?!"

Patty whirled around at the growl, and everyone's eyes widened as Don Krieg rose out of the wreckage, alive and unhurt.

"It can't be-!" Patty spluttered in shock, and I stared at the Don in mild horror and anxiety. He was intimidating now, with giant gold plates of armor strapped to his body. He straightened, and Patty froze in place as Krieg fixed a glare on him.

"Serving that pile of crap for dessert," he grumbled, brushing the dust and debris off himself. "This is the worst restaurant that I've ever been to."

"WHOA!" The cheer threw all of us off balance as Luffy exclaimed in admiration, "HIS BODY'S GOLD AND SHINY!"

"Not the time, idiot!" I hissed at him, and one of the cooks whacked the back of his head as they went to grab some of the weapons we stored in the restaurant.

"That bastard and his fancy steel armor!" Patty shouted, wielding a giant fork as his chosen weapon. "GET HIM!"

"LET'S GO!" the other cooks roared out, rushing towards the pirate, but he just smirked in reply.

And to my horror, guns rose out of his armor, and I screamed as the cooks fell, one by one, some bleeding from bullet wounds, some staggering away, and some not even moving.

"ANNOYING BASTARDS!" Krieg roared as he shot, and I struggled even harder as Kalbi began to drag me further back, away from the violence. I didn't blame him, really. If he got shot _once_, he'd bleed to death.

"Guns!" gasped Luffy in surprise.

"From all over his body!" Sanji exclaimed, and finally, I yanked myself away from Kalbi's grasp.

"Hazel -!" he tried, groping for my arm, but I shook my head as Krieg began to laud praises about himself and his armor.

"I'm staying," I informed the older man sternly. "I can help fight. And you can't get hurt, so go inside."

"But little girls shouldn't fight-!" Kalbi protested, and I shook my head more firmly.

"I'm not so little anymore," I answered, turning back and moving to stand next to Sanji. "I'm thirteen. Go. You're a hemophiliac, so you can't get hurt. Wait inside."

Kalbi hesitated, and I could see his jaw twitch as he debated what to do. Finally, with a nervous nod, Kalbi scuttled back into the kitchen.

I turned my attention to Krieg as I stood by Sanji, and he shouted, "…So if I tell you to prepare the food for my men, then you shut up and do it! _Nobody goes against Don Krieg!_"

_Thump!_

I blinked in surprise as Zeff dropped a gigantic sack of food before the Don, and I felt a small smile cross my face at the sight.

"Owner Zeff!" several of the cooks shouted in shock, but Zeff ignored them and gestured at the bag.

"There's enough food here for a hundred people," he told Krieg, calm in the face of all the guns Krieg sported. "So hurry up and bring it to your men."

Krieg, however, was staring at Zeff in shock as something clicked in his mind. "Did…Did they just say 'Zeff'?"

Zeff didn't answer him, turning away and marching back towards the kitchens as the cooks yelled at him.

"Sir! How could you give them food?! Just what's the meaning of this?!" demanded Soufflé, gripping his bleeding arm. "Once those pirates on that ship recover, they'll take over our restaurant!"

"That's only if they still have any fighting spirit left at all," Zeff replied calmly, and the cooks paused, blinking at Zeff in confusion. They weren't the only ones. I was staring at him as well. What did he mean by, 'Still have any fighting spirit left'?

"Isn't that right, defeated survivors of the Grand Line?" Zeff asked, turning back to look at Krieg, and my jaw dropped.

"W-what?!" gasped Gnocchi in shock. "Don Krieg, defeated?!"

"The strongest man of East Blue -!" Carne agreed, stunned by the revelation. "The pirate fleet admiral of fifty ships! Even he was completely defeated by the Grand Line?"

I saw Luffy's eyes widen. "Grand Line?!" he asked, only focusing on one part of the conversation, but nobody paid attention to him.

"You're…'Red-Leg Zeff'!" Krieg breathed upon realization, his eyes fixed on Zeff, but Zeff only grunted and shrugged. Krieg straightened. "So you were alive, Red-Leg Zeff. The peerless captain and cook of his own pirate crew."

While the other cooks gaped in astonishment, I shrugged. This wasn't new information for me. Sanji had told me _ages_ ago.

"So what if I'm alive?" Zeff asked dismissively. "It's got nothing to do with you. As you can see, I'm living as a mere cook now."

Krieg laughed. "Interesting to hear it put that way," he commented, folding his beefy, armor-plated arms. "But from the way I see it, you're living as a cook not by choice, but because that's the only thing you can do." He looked pointedly at Zeff's wood stump of a leg, and sneered. "With the way you are now, you can't wear your infamous 'red shoes'. To speak of Red-Leg Zeff is to speak of the master of kicking who refused to use his hands in battle! The pirate whose destructive kicks could pulverize bedrock and leave a clear imprint, even on steel!" He laughed again, but this time, it was mocking. "Your nickname 'Red-Leg' refers to the legs that were dyed in the blood of your enemies after a fight."

Krieg then studied Zeff. "Though I've heard from rumors that you died during a shipwreck, it seems that you've managed to survive, though at the cost of one of your precious legs. With one of your legs gone, you should've be able to fight anymore."

At this, Sanji was as tense as a coiled spring, and he was staring at Zeff and Krieg with worry and…guilt?

I quietly observed Sanji. He knew from personal experience what it was like to be starving to death. Zeff told me long ago that he lost his leg because he ate it, because he wasn't the only one starving. I had only thought, on a whim, that it was because Sanji was with him, but this only seemed to confirm it. And Sanji kept saying that he owed a debt to the head chef, so it made sense.

"I may not be able to fight anymore," Zeff replied, ensnaring my attention once again, "but I can still cook as long as I have these hands. But just what are you getting at exactly?"

Krieg grinned at him cockily, stroking his chin. "Red-Leg Zeff, you're a man who once braved the waters of the Devil's Hideout, the Grand Line itself! Not only that, you returned without injury. You must've kept a log during your time in the Grand Line. So what I'm trying to say is…hand over that log to me!"

Luffy ignored Krieg and turned to Zeff. "Cool, you've been to the Grand Line, old man?" he asked excitedly, grinning from ear to ear, and Zeff hardly glanced at him.

"Yes." He then focused his stare on Krieg, unwilling and unafraid. "You are certainly correct to assume that I kept a log, and I indeed have it to this day. But I'm not going to hand it over to you," he said to the large man, and I watched as the grin slipped off of Krieg's face like oil. "That log is the pride of my men and I, who bravely ventured the Grand Line together. It's much too valuable to give to the likes of you!"

"Go Geezer, go!" I cheered softly, earning a small grin from Sanji when he heard me.

Krieg, on the other hand, wasn't smiling at all. He actually looked furious, and he glared dangerously at Zeff. "Then I'll just steal it from you!" he declared angrily. "It's true that I came back from the Grand Line defeated, but even so, I'm still the mighty Don Krieg!" A dark look crossed his face, and he continued, "That ocean shrouded by darkness, the mention of it alone causes weak men to tremble in their boots! I had enough power to conquer that sea! Enough manpower! Enough ambition! The only thing I lacked was information! That was my only flaw!" He grit his teeth, and glared at Zeff. "I simply didn't know enough, which is why I'll steal your travel log and this ship!"

The cooks all exploded into noise, with me included.

"Like _hell_ we'll let you! If we lose this ship, we've got nowhere to go!" Patty shouted stubbornly.

"That's right!" agreed Carne. "All the cooks here were chased out by other restaurants before finally finding their home in this place!"

"Owner Zeff is the only one who accepted us as chefs! He's our savior!" yelled a chef by the name of Bocaccio.

"We ain't letting you pirates steal our home away!" announced Breve defiantly.

"You want a _restaurant_ that looks like a _fish_ as your ship?!" I asked stupidly, and Sanji gently cuffed the back of my head.

"Silence!" Krieg roared, unleashing another round of bullets, and I dove behind an upturned table for cover. "The difference in strength between you and I is clear as night and day! I even proved it to you just now! Don't you dare forget that I'm the strongest!" He clenched a fist. "Once I obtain Zeff's travel log, I'll reassemble my pirate fleet and fine one piece to become the greatest pirate of this era!"

He stopped in his rant when someone completely unexpected stepped forward brazenly, and pointed a dramatic finger at the Don.

"Hold it right there!" Luffy stated seriously. "The one who'll become the pirate king is me!"

I had to admit, he had balls for doing that, but I hissed at him. "You idiot! What're you doing?!"

"W-what did that errand boy say just now?!" demanded Carne, and I stood up from behind the table as Patty shouted, "Hey, stand back kid, or you'll be killed!"

"I'm not standing down," Luffy answered with a cheery smile. "Especially at this point!"

Krieg grunted and glared at the teen. "Did you say something, little brat? I'll be nice enough to let your comment slide."

"It's fine," Luffy laughed, "you don't have to let it slide! I was only stating the truth!"

Krieg scowled darkly. "This ain't a game, brat."

"Of course!" Luffy answered cheerfully, and I thought he had gone mad.

"Luffy!" I snapped, but I was interrupted by someone commenting from the side, "Did you hear that just now? Even Krieg couldn't make it in there! I won't say anything bad so let's just give up on going to a place like that!"

"Just keep your mouth shut," grumbled another voice, and we all turned to see the green-haired teen with three swords grinning at us from a nearby table. "You planning to fight, Luffy? Need a hand?" The long-nosed teen sitting beside him was shaking a little, but still stared out with determination.

"Oh hey, Zoro, Usopp," Luffy commented idly. "No, it's fine, you can just stay sitting down." At this, I saw the long-nosed teen breath a sigh of relief, and rolled my eyes. Coward.

Krieg stared at the two teens, before he began to laugh, nearly busting a gut. "Those are you crewmates?! A rather small bunch, aren't they?!"

"What're you talking about?!" Luffy asked indignantly, holding up three fingers. "I've got three others as well!"

"Hey, you just counted me in, didn't you?" Sanji grumbled, and I grimaced.

"And me," I agreed, poking Sanji with the tip of my tail.

"Don't joke with me, punk!" Krieg snapped. "Even my fleet of fifty ships and five thousand pirates were utterly decimated by that devilish sea in just seven days, only because we lacked information!"

This caused another uproar among the cooks, but a voice cut clearly through all then noise, saying, "Quality over quantity, I guess. You and your crew must suck if they went down that fast."

When everyone turned to stare and gawk at me, I realized that it was me who said that, and I clamped my mouth shut as Sanji gaped stupidly at me.

"You," Krieg growled, pointing a meaty finger at me. "You're _dead_, brat. I'll get you as soon as I'm done feeding my crew!"

He seized the bag of food, and he looked at everyone else with a threatening glare. "I'll give you a little extension," he informed us. "I'm going to go give this food to my subordinates, and then return back here. I'd suggest you leave this place within that time if you don't want to die. The only things I need are this ship and Zeff's travel log."

My mouth opened to make another comment about having a fishy-looking ship as his warship, but Sanji slapped a hand over my mouth.

"Not _one_ word, Hazel," he ordered, and I wilted a little in disappointment.

Krieg picked up the bag of food, and swept out of the doorway, but not without one last comment. "If any of you still feel like dying even after I warned you, then so be it! I'll sink you to the bottom of the sea for eternity!"

A ringing silence fell after Krieg left, and Sanji sighed, dropping his hand from my mouth. He opened his mouth to reprimand me, but a weak moan interrupted us.

"Sanji…Hazel…please forgive me!" begged Gin, still on all fours from where Krieg dropped him. "I had no idea! No idea that all of this would happen!"

"There's no need to apologize," Zeff said to him, and sniffing, Gin looked up, wiping his eyes.

"Huh?"

"The cooks of this restaurant acted out of their own free will, and this is the result of that," Zeff elaborated.

"Sir!" shouted Patty, rising to his feet and gesturing wildly at the door. "How could _you _of all people side with Sanji and the brat on this?! Just what's the meaning of this?!"

"That's right!" shouted Breve in agreement. "They're the ones to blame for all this!"

"He just wants to destroy this restaurant that's so important to you, sir!" added Gnocchi with a thunderous scowl.

When Zeff didn't reply, they then turned on us with accusing glares and pointed fingers. "Sanji! Hazel!"

"Were you planning on using this mess to become the next head chef and assistant?!" My mouth dropped open in shocked protest, but I could hardly get a word out over the shouting.

"Or have you just completely lost it?!"

"Which is it?!"

"SILENCE, YOU NUMBSKULLS!"

Zeff's command left everyone hanging high and dry, and the old chef sighed, before growling, "Have any of you ever been hungry enough to die? Do any of you know just how terrifying and painful it is, to be stuck in this ocean, deprived of food and water?!"

I turned my gaze to the floor as unwanted memories came to the forefront of my mind, and beside me, Sanji's expression grew dark as he lit a cigarette.

"Wha-what do you mean, sir?" asked Patty, completely lost.

Zeff shook his head, and jabbed a thumb over at the exit. "If you've got time to be crying over spilled milk, then just leave this place using the back door!"

A long, contemplative silence fell, before the clink of weapons interrupted it.

"I'm gonna stay here," Patty announced, lifting up his giant fork. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I just left without a fight."

"Same here," sighed Breve, holding a gigantic knife. "This is the place I live and work at."

"It's not like I've got anywhere else to go," agreed Boccaccio.

Gin sat up and looked at all of us with horror. "W-what're you all doing?!" he exclaimed. "Haven't you realized how powerful the Don is by now?! You need to run away!"

"Hey, Gin."

Sanji stood up, breathing out a small cloud of smoke before he faced the pirate. "Let me tell you something. It's my duty as a cook to feed anyone who's starving. But ones who're coming to attack this ship are those who've already been fed. So you better not complain when I kill them."

I shivered as Sanji's gaze grew murderous as he issued his threat. "If someone is planning on stealing this ship, then I'll kill that person without a second thought, even if it's you. Got that?"

Gin stared at Sanji, sweating nervously as he processed the warning.

"Hmph," grunted Patty, hefting the giant fork onto his shoulder and glowering at Sanji. "You save a person, only to kill him afterwards? Some guy you are."

"Shut up, you shitty cook," Sanji scoffed in dismissal, and I nodded.

"You wouldn't understand," I told the violent cook, and he grunted again and looked away in annoyance.

"Oh, that's right, Gin."

We all looked at Luffy as he addressed the pirate. "You said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line. But didn't you guys go there?" Luffy asked in confusion.

Gin hunched in on himself, and I noticed that he began to tremble from fear. Was the Grand Line really that bad?

"What I don't know is the truth…I just can't believe it," mumbled Gin shakily. "I just don't know if those seven days we spent in the Grand Line was real or just a nightmare! I'm still wrestling with it in my mind! He just appeared all of a sudden…!" His shaking grew worse, and my eyes widened when he gasped, "To think all fifty ships of the Krieg Armada were destroyed by a single man!"

"WHAT?!" yelped Luffy as Usopp staggered back in a faint.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" shouted Patty, the cooks, and Sanji.

"There's no way!" I agreed, shocked.

"The entire Krieg pirate fleet was crushed by a single man?!" we all hollered at Gin, and he nodded, gripping his head.

"While we still had no idea what was going on, our ships sank one by one! And if weren't for that storm that whisked us away, even our main ship would've sunk! I don't even know how many of our ships managed to survive…it's just too terrifying to believe as real! I don't even want to think about that hawk-eyed man whose glare is sharp enough to kill a man! I don't! I don't want to think about him!"

And at this declaration, Zoro's head snapped around.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

**And that's that! And as another apology for my lateness, I'll be posting a new chapter tomorrow! :) Please review, give criticism, or whatever!  
**

**Posted and Edited: 1/26/2014, 11:48 PM**


	6. Fish Ships and Sword Fights

**Alright! Another chapter as an apology, just for you guys! Also, thanks people, who reviewed! It makes me so happy! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"How could our entire fleet be sunk by one man?!" Gin demanded angrily, and I didn't blame him. I'd be upset too if I saw fifty warships be destroyed by _one man_.

"That had to be the work of the hawk-eyed man, without a doubt," Zeff murmured, and when everyone turned their attention to him, he said to Gin, "You saying that you witnessed a man whose glare was as sharp as that of a hawk doesn't necessarily prove it was him, but the fact that he sunk your entire fleet is more than enough proof that it really was him."

"Geezer," I said quietly, and when Zeff glanced at me, I asked simply, "Who?"

"He's that one guy that stops by every once in a while," Carne answered, not looking phased at all. "I'm surprised you don't recognize him from the description."

"Yeah," agreed Breve. "He's that one guy that got so piss-drunk from wine that his eyes turned red."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Gnocchi with a snicker. "He's the idiot who caught on fire and blew up!"

My eyes widened in realization. "Oh yeah! That guy! That was hilarious! I'm still surprised that he survived!" I laughed, before a chilling thought struck me.

This guy…was capable of destroying an entire fleet by himself, and he survived an explosion that happened _right on his body_. Just how strong was this guy?!

Sanji folded his arms and regarded Gin with confusion. "Did he bear some grudge against you guys for him to destroy your entire fleet like that?"

"I don't remember anything like that! He just attacked us all of a sudden!" Gin cried desperately, and Zeff shrugged.

"You probably disturbed his afternoon nap," he suggested, and Gin's face contorted into furious indignation.

"THAT'S BULLSHIT! YOU MEAN TO TELL ME HE DESTROYED OUR ENTIRE FLEET FOR THAT?!" he shouted, and Zeff glowered back at him.

"No need to get so irritated," he grunted. "It was just an example. That's just the kind of place the Grand Line is."

"A place where even the abnormal is normal, huh," Luffy's friend Zoro commented, and Luffy pumped his fists into the air.

"Alright! That sounds like fun!" he cheered happily. "We definitely gotta go there!"

"Could you at _least_ try to think of the danger?!" Usopp screeched at Luffy, slamming his hands down onto the table.

"But with this it looks like my own goal is inextricably tied with the Grand Line," Zoro said with a smirk, resting his feet on the table as he propped his swords against his hip. "Considering that 'that man' is there as well."

Sanij glanced over before taking a drag on his cigarette. "Bunch of idiots," he grumbled. "You lot are the type to rush to their deaths."

"True, but I'd rather have you leave out the 'idiot' part," Zoro sneered. "Ever since I've decided to become the world's greatest swordsman, I threw away my attachment to life. The only one who has the right to call me an idiot is me alone."

"Ooh! Me too!" Luffy volunteered happily.

"As a real man, the same goes for me too!" Usopp added brazenly, only to be smacked in the head by the hilt of Zoro's sword.

"Liar," Zoro rebutted mercilessly.

"Psh," scoffed Sanji. "What a load of crap."

I turned to Zoro. "Can I call you an idiot too?"

He glared at me. "OF COURSE NOT! WHAT MADE YOU THINK I'D LET YOU?!"

"HEY, RETARDS!" Patty bellowed at us. "HAVEN'T YOU REALIZED THE SITUATION WE'RE IN RIGHT NOW?!" He jabbed a finger outside, and continued, "THE GIGANTIC GALLEON THAT'S PARKED RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR RESTAURANT BELONGS TO THE PIRATE FLEET ADMIRAL DON KRIEG! THE SHIP OF THE STRONGEST PIRATE IN ALL OF EAST BLUE! YOU GOT THAT?! SO YOU CAN CONTINUE YOUR LITTLE CONVERSATION AFTER WE'VE GOTTEN OURSELVES OUT OF THIS MESS!"

I wiggled a finger in my ear. "Alright, alright, we got it," I said dismissively. "Stop screaming already."

Patty seized me by the shoulders and began to shake me. "SHOW SOME MORE CONCERN FOR THE SITUATION YOU SHITTY BRAT!"

He was sent flying as Sanji kicked him in the face. "Keep your hands off of Hazel-chan," he growled, and I dusted myself off.

I'll admit, I was _really_ nervous about Don Krieg's crew attacking us, but I knew without a doubt that Sanji would do his best to protect me. And not only that, but I wasn't _completely_ defenseless either.

Shouts began to ring out from outside the restaurant, and all the chefs readied their weapons as Sanji and I slid into defensive positions.

"I can hear them coming!"

"Brace yourself! This ship is our restaurant!"

Pirates landed on the loading dock in front of the entrance, and Carne sucked in a deep breath.

"MOVE IT YOU DAMN COOKS!" he bellowed.

But before we had the chance to move, everything erupted into chaos.

To be honest, I didn't know what was going on. One moment, pirates were rushing at us from their ship, swinging on board and waving weapons, and then…everything seemed to fall apart.

Their ship exploded into pieces, and everyone began to scream as the Baratie rocked violently.

I landed on a table, clutching onto it for dear life as people shouted about a ship being…cut?! What the hell?! Was it even _possible_ to cut a ship?!

"Crap!" Luffy yelped, rising to his feet and darting across tabletops. "Our ship was outside too, with Nami, Yosaku, and Johnny still inside! It might be too late already!"

"Raise the anchor!" Zeff roared over all the commotion, "Or this ship's gonna get dragged under!"

I was thrown against a nearby window, and as I looked out, I gasped.

"GEEZER!" I shouted, catching his attention and the attention of everyone else in the room. "THE SHIP GOT CUT APART!"

"WHAT?!" All the cooks rushed outside to stand on the deck as the water settled down, and I was right behind them, gaping in awe at the sheer impossibility of the sight.

"DON KRIEG!" a pirate shouted hysterically, "IT'S THE MAN THAT DESTROYED OUR ENTIRE FLEET! HE FOLLOWED US ALL THE WAY OUT HERE! HE'S COME TO KILL US ALL!"

Krieg, who was standing on the remains of his broken ship, paled in terror. "That bastard…!"

I stared at the man floating towards us. He was decidedly creepy, and had been the first time I saw him, but he had been nothing but polite to me. I took in his sharp, golden-eyed gaze, his thin, black mustache and black, trimmed beard, his elegant clothes, and his coffin-shaped boat, and tilted my head in confusion. How on _earth _was he able to destroy fifty ships?!

"He's…the one who sank a fleet of fifty ships?" Patty asked, half incredulous, half amazed, and Carne shook his head in slow disbelief.

"Then…he's the one who destroyed Krieg's ship just now," he realized.

Soufflé raised a hand up to his face in order to block out the sun, and peered out across the water. "He looks like any normal guy, and it doesn't seem like he's carrying any special weapon," he observed, but Zeff grunted and folded his arms.

"If you're looking for his weapon, then it's on his back," he informed us, and we all did a double take at the man that was floating near us. That was when I noticed the cross-shaped object behind his back. I thought it was a part of his ship, but when I saw it shift as the waves bobbed, I realized that it was his sword.

Holy. Shit.

"Y-you mean he cut that gigantic galleon by swinging that?!" yelped Gnocchi, and Zeff nodded.

"Yes. Dracule Mihawk, or 'Hawk-Eyes' is a renowned swordsman. More renowned than any other swordsman in the word," he explained to us, and my breath caught in my throat as I saw the glare he threw at the pirates surrounding him.

"Damn it!" a pirate yelled, rising from the wreckage of the warship. "What did we ever do to you?! Why the hell did you have to follow us all the way out here?!"

There was a long, tense silence as Mihawk glared at the man (or stared, because I couldn't tell the difference between his expressions), before he said simply, "Just to kill some time."

My jaw dropped. "SERIOUSLY?!"

The pirate that addressed the swordsman seemed to think along the same lines as me. "THAT'S BULLSHIT!" he roared, drawing a pair of guns and shooting at the man.

It happened so fast, I almost missed it. Dracule's form blurred, and the next thing I knew, he had his sword out, and the bullets…missed? Well, that was anticlimactic.

"What?!"

"He missed?!"

"He deflected it," a voice declared solemnly, and we all looked to see Zoro standing nearby, his eyes fixed on Dracule with a frightening amount of intensity. "It'll be the same no matter how many times you shoot," Zoro continued. "He changes the bullet's trajectory with the tip of his sword. I've never seen such graceful movements."

"A sword without grace has no strength," Mihawk answered as he sheathed his blade.

Zoro gestured at the wrecked ship with a tilt of his head. "Did you cut this ship as well with that sword?" he demanded, and Mihawk shrugged.

"Yes, indeed."

A slow, determined grin spread across Zoro's tanned face, and he said, "No wonder you really are the strongest."

One of the pirates standing nearby suddenly stumbled back in shock. "T-three swords?! Hey! Could this guy be -?!"

Zoro completely ignored the pirate. "I set sail to meet you!" he declared, grabbing a bandana tied to his bicep and tying it around his head.

Mihawk regarded Zoro carefully, his expression never changing. "What do you aim for?" he asked curiously, and Zoro's grin darkened.

"To be the strongest."

Everyone watched with bated breath as Zoro drew a blade and pointed it at the swordsman. "You said you're free, right?" he persuaded. "So let's have a duel."

"It's him!" Zoro! Roronoa Zoro of the Santoryuu!" a pirate suddenly exclaimed, and everyone's heads snapped around to stare at the green-haired teen, including mine.

"Really?!" I exclaimed, surprised. He actually didn't look like much, but this guy…he was already a famous name among East Blue, despite having appeared about a year ago.

Huh. I thought he'd be a lot older.

Mihawk's eyes fixed on Zoro as he muttered bluntly, "Pitiful weakling." Zoro's smirk fell as Mihawk gracefully stepped off his boat and onto the ruined deck of the warship, and he folded his arms. "If you're a competent swordsman by any means, then I will demonstrate the clear difference of strength between you and I without needed to cross blades at all." When Zoro didn't budge, he smirked. "But still, you dare to challenge me. Does your bravery come from your conviction? Or from ignorance?"

"It comes from my ambition," Zoro declared as he placed the hilt of the white blade into his mouth, before drawing the other two. "…And a promise to a friend."

The two men faced each other, and Zoro scoffed. "To be honest," he said, his voice a little muffled from the blade in his mouth, 'I never thought I'd be able to meet you so early on."

"A waste, if you ask me," Mihawk replied, and Zoro's glared at the man. While it was nowhere near as intimidating as Mihawk's, it was still scary as hell.

"The world's strongest swords man versus the pirate hunter Zoro…" mumbled Patty as we all watched the duel unfolding out on the broken deck.

'_Who will win_?' I asked myself, as Mihawk pulled a small cross necklace from off of his chest, uncapping the top and revealing a tiny dagger.

Zoro's eyes narrowed in confusion. "Just what're you planning to do with that?"

Mihawk pointed it at Zoro. "I'm different from those stupid brutes who'd go all out just to hunt a mere rabbit," he answered, his tone almost mocking despite the expressionless gaze. "Though you may be a swordsman of some renown, this is East Blue, the weakest of the four seas that are separated by the Red Line and the Grand Line." To my surprise, he looked at Zoro with almost mocking pity. "Unfortunately, I do not have a blade smaller than this at the moment."

Zoro's teeth clenched around the blade in his mouth in rage, and I could see that his form was tense with anger. "There's a limit to just how much you can underestimate me! You better not regret it when you die!"

And with that final declaration, he rushed towards Mihawk, who observed him coolly.

"Hear me, little frog in his well," he murmured as Zoro drew close to him, "It's time for you to realize that the world is bigger than what it seems from your well."

"ONI GIRI!" Zoro snarled, but he was halted in his tracks by Mihawk's tiny little dagger pressed against the point of where Zoro's three swords connected.

My jaw dropped at the sheer skill that Mihawk demonstrated, and Zoro seemed to realize that he was severely outclassed as his eyes widened. However, that didn't stop him from attacking again.

"AARRRRGH!" he roared incoherently, and began a series of swings that took my breath away. However, Mihawk met each one with his dagger and an indifferent expression on his face. He looked almost bored against Zoro's frenzied attack.

Finally, with a little twist of Mihawk's dagger, Zoro was sent toppling over, and I shivered at the dark expression on the teen's face as he rose again, clutching at his swords like they were a lifeline. And again, he rushed at Mihawk, attempting to defeat the man before him.

"Come on, aniki!" shouted two young men standing off to the side in another ship. "Show him what you've really got!"

"Such ferocity," Mihawk observed, still not breaking a sweat as he parried Zoro's attacks.

"I trained to win!" Zoro grunted as he continued to fight fruitlessly against his opponent. "I came to beat this man!"

"What burdens you so?" MIhawk asked, and Zoro's eyes widened. "What do you still desire at the extent of your strength weakling?"

There was a commotion off to the side as Zoro's…fan boys? (I didn't even know who they were) rushed to Zoro's side with blades drawn, but Luffy seized them both by the backs of their jackets and slammed them into the deck of the Baratie.

"Stop, Yosaku, Johnny! Don't interfere!" I looked over at Luffy with surprise as he gritted his teeth, staring out at the fight with a pained expression. "Stay put right here!"

"Oof!" My attention snapped back to Zoro as he was thrown back once again, but again, he rose back to his feet, before sliding into another form and roaring, "TORA GARI!"

And with a final swing, everything stopped.

"ANIKI!" Johnny and Yosaku shrieked as blood painted the deck, and my breath caught in my chest at the sight of Mihawk's little dagger implanted firmly into Zoro's chest.

Slowly, Zoro's blades lowered, and Mihawk's eyes widened, the most surprise I had seen on his face since he accidentally blew himself up last year.

"Do you wish for me to pierce your heart through?" Mihawk demanded, startled. "Why do you refuse to step back?"

I had to strain to hear Zoro's ragged reply, but he answered, "Beats me…not really sure myself…but I get the feeling…that if I were to take even one step back right now, I'd lose something very important to me…" He coughed, and I watched as blood dribbled down his chin and onto his rapidly staining shirt. "A promise or oath…or whatever it is would be irreversibly broken, and that I'd never be able to return back to where I'm standing right now."

Mihawk's confused expression solidified into one without remorse, and unmercifully, he answered, "Yes. Such is defeat."

Zoro gasped out a laugh. "Then that's why I can't step back."

"Even if it means your death?"

Zoro stance firmed, and a dangerous grin wrapped around the blade in his mouth. "_I'd much rather die_."

I shivered at the sheer conviction in Zoro's voice. It was incredible; here he was, bleeding from multiple wounds, and he's still able to stand and take his beatings like a man. It was awe-inspiring, and I hoped that one day I would find a cause that motivated me to such lengths, a dream that I would die for.

Mihawk seemed impressed, and he pulled his small dagger out of Zoro's chest. "Kid…tell me your name."

Zoro settled into another fighting stance, and answered, "Roronoa Zoro."

"Hm," Mihawk hummed. "I shall remember it. For your strength is not often seen in this world. And to pay my respect to you as a fellow swordsman," he continued, drawing the large blade that sat on his back, "I shall end this duel with my black sword, the world's strongest sword."

The pirates surrounding us began to make a commotion about the blade, and as Mihawk flew at Zoro, I could only watch with a mixture of trepidation and awe as two of Zoro's blades broke, and he collapsed. However, my awe quickly turned to worry and fear as an alarming amount of blood spilled out of his chest.

My worry only worsened when Zoro stood up, swiftly turning to face Mihawk with his arms spread out. Mihawk, not expecting this sort of reaction, paused in the middle of his attack. "What…?"

Zoro grinned, blood dribbling out of his nose and mouth, and explained, "A wound on one's back is the shame of a swordsman."

A slow, proud grin spread across Mihawk's face, and he declared, "Splendid."

And he slashed.

"ZORO!" Luffy screamed, dropping Johnny and Yosaku as murderous intent crossed his face. I stumbled back at the scary sight, repulsed by the amount of _blood _that coated the area, and Sanji absently steadied me, his eyes still fixed on the scene.

Finally, he muttered to himself, "That damn bastard's out of his mind! His enemy was the world's strongest! The result's obvious! If it's going to mean your death, then just throw your damn ambition away!" He raised his voice, and shouted, "IT'S SIMPLE! JUST THROW AWAY THAT AMBITION!"

Zoro crashed into the water, and Luffy stretched back, and punched, his arm _stretching _from the Baratie to grab the railing of the ruined ship. And with a slight tug, he rocketed over to Mihawk, screaming his name as the rest of us goggled at the sight.

'_What…just…happened…?'_

"What the hell?!" Sanji yelped as Luffy continued to attack Mihawk, his arms and body stretching and contorting in ways that was physically impossible.

"He must've eaten a devil fruit," Zeff mused, just as a shout interrupted us.

"ZORO!"

"ANIKI, SAY SOMETHING!"

To my immense surprise, Zoro was bobbing in the water as Johnny and Yosaku held him, and he coughed out another glob of blood.

"ZORO!" Luffy shouted desperately, and we all watched as they dragged Zoro into their boat.

"I am Dracule Mihawk," Mihawk declared solemnly, catching everyone's attention as Zoro was settled down in their boat. "It is much too early for you to die. Learn about yourself! Learn of the world! And become strong, Roronoa! No matter how many months or years pass by, I shall stand here at the top of the world and wait for you! So forge on ahead with that fierce conviction and try to surpass my sword!" Mihawk sucked in a deep breath, and roared, "SURPASS ME, RORONOA!"

I stared at Mihawk with awe and admiration, feeling as if something important had just happened. An intense moment, the kind that forges the beginnings of a _legend_.

"To think Mihawk would say such a thing," commented Zeff thoughtfully, his eyes fixed on the swordsman.

Mihawk turned to Luffy, who was sitting next to him in relief. "Boy, what do you aim for?" he demanded, and Luffy frowned with determination.

"The Pirate King!" he announced, and Mihawk snorted and smiled with disbelief.

"A tough path indeed. Even tougher than surpassing myself," he remarked, and Luffy stuck out his tongue.

"Whatever!" he answered stubbornly, and I found myself smacking my forehead in frustration. "I'm going to do it anyways!"

What is he, five?!

"Usopp! Is Zoro alright?!" Luffy called, turning back to his ship, and Usopp snapped back, "Like hell he'd be alright! But he's still alive! He only lost consciousness!"

Suddenly, a sword was thrust into the air between Johnny, Yosaku, and Usopp, and we all straightened at the sight when Luffy asked, "Zoro?"

"Luffy!" Zoro's voice was faint, but we could all still hear him. "C-can you hear me?"

"Yeah!" Luffy affirmed, and we all leaned forward to hear what the fallen swordsman had to say.

"Sorry for worrying you…I know…that if I don't become the world's strongest swordsman, it will only embarrass you!" He coughed, and Johnny and Yosaku panicked.

"Aniki! Please don't talk anymore!"

"Aniki!"

"I SWEAR," Zoro shouted, his voice cracking and completely ignoring the pair, "THAT I'M NEVER GOING TO LOSE AGAIN! UNTIL THE DAY I FIGHT HIM AND WIN! I SWEAR TO NEVER LOSE AGAIN!"

A broad grin stretched across Luffy's face, and Zoro coughed, "Any problems? Pirate King?"

Luffy straightened and laughed. "Nope!" he answered, satisfied and cheerful once again, like the whole ordeal had never happened.

But it felt like history had just been made. A promise, a promise to be the very best.

"You make a good team," observed Mihawk with a smirk, before he turned back to his boat. "I'd like to see you two again sometime in the future."

"Hawk-Eyes!" Don Krieg suddenly called, and I remembered that he was the reason for this whole mess. "Did you come all the way out here for my head?" he asked arrogantly, with a sleazy smile decorating his face. "The head of the infamous ruler of East Blue, 'Don Krieg'?"

Mihawk's smirk slipped right off of his face, like oil on water. "For a while, yes. But I've already enjoyed myself here, and so I'll return back to my nap."

My eyes popped out at that statement. _'Shit! The geezer wasn't kidding when he said that they might've interrupted his nap_!'

"No need to be so curt," Krieg cajoled. "You may have had your fun, but I sure haven't!"

He pulled out his guns, and I found myself groaning as he roared, "HOW ABOUT YOU DIE BEFORE LEAVING?!"

"Hmph," scoffed Mihawk, drawing his blade. "You never learn, do you…? Farewell."

An explosion of water and waves caused the Baratie to rock violently, and I let out a gargled yelp as I received a faceful of salt water. With a grimace, I coughed and spat it out, clutching onto the railing of the Baratie as the waves settled once more.

As soon as everything was calm, I straightened and looked out across the ocean, but Mihawk was gone.

"Usopp!" I heard Luffy shout, and I looked over to see him right next to me, clinging onto the railing of the Baratie like a limpet. "Go on ahead!"

"Alright!" came the answering call as the small ship began to sail off. "Zoro and I will definitely bring back Nami! So you make sure to get us a cook!" He tossed something into the air, and added, "Once we have five people in our crew, let's head to the Grand Line!"

Luffy reached out, and I realized that it was his straw hat as the rubber teen caught it. "Yeah!" he agreed enthusiastically, planting the hat firmly on his head. "Let's!"

"They're finally coming…" Sanji murmured, and I switched my attention back to Don Krieg's pirates as they readied themselves. Sanji blew out a small cloud of smoke, and grumbled, "Damn pests."

"What, are you worried?" I teased, bouncing on the balls of my feet with anxious anticipation. "C'mon, we can take them!"

He clapped a hand to my shoulder, and forced me to settle down. "Nah, I'm not worried at all. More like annoyed, those shitty bastards."

"Hey, old man!" Luffy shouted, nearly deafening me since he was right by my ear. "If I chase them away for you, will you let me off the hook?"

"Fine, do as you wish!" Zeff answered back, folding his arms with a disgruntled expression on his mustached face.

"Well, that was a bit of a nuisance," muttered Krieg with annoyance as he folded his arms. "But it's nothing! We were originally planning on abandoning this ship anyways, so who cares if it's been destroyed? Look at that goofy-looking ship."

"I _told_ you -!" I began, frustrated, but Sanji slapped a hand over my mouth. "Mmph!"

"If we have that boat, we needn't fear even the Grand Line anymore," Don Krieg sneered with a dark grin. "Having that ship will be more effective than hanging a white flag or pretending to be marines! I'll lower our enemies' guards and we'll be able to sneak closer to enemy ships than ever before! It'll be the perfect disguise for us."

"I see," realized one of the attacking pirates. "Nobody would ever suspect that there'd be pirates lying in wait on such a stupid looking ship like that."

Krieg narrowed his eyes. "This era is teeming with pirates on every ocean. Rebuilding our pirate fleet will be a piece of cake!"

"You _bastard_ -!" I shouted, ripping my face away from Sanji's hand and feeling totally furious. "We're _never _handing this boat over to you! Even if it's a shitty-looking boat, it's _our_ boat!"

"Oi, oi," Sanji muttered in annoyance while Zeff palmed his face in disbelief. Luffy, however, just laughed his face off.

"B-but Don!" stammered one of the pirates. "When we go back to the Grand Line, what if we were to come across another monster like 'Hawk-Eyes' Mi -!"

_BANG!_

I stopped short at the sight of the Don shooting one of his own in the head, and Luffy's laughter ceased immediately. He looked serious. _Deadly_ serious.

"You're still afraid of that bastard?!" Krieg shouted at his men, and they stammered, "N-no!" "Do you really think a normal person can just cut down a gigantic galleon?!"

"What?! What do you mean by that, Don?!" asked another pirate nervously, and he flinched when Krieg bellowed, "Isn't it obvious that he's got some strange power from a devil fruit?!"

I didn't blame the pirates for flinching. I mean, Krieg did just kill one of his own men.

"Devil fruit users, who we've only heard of in legends and such…the Grand Line is full of 'em!" Krieg snarled. "There's no doubt that the Hawk-Eyed man used some strange power when cutting our ship! Even that strawhat-wearing punk there with his weird ability is just another run of the mill pirate in the Grand Line!"

"But 'Red-Leg Zeff'," he continued, pointing dramatically at the head chef, "spent an entire year sailing in the Grand Line, meaning he must've found some method to deal with those monsters! And that method's written down in his travel log for sure! There might even be information on One Piece in his log as well!"

"Asshole," I grumbled, and Sanji shook his head.

"He did convince them to fight, though," he reminded as shouts and cheers rang through the air.

"WHOA!" Luffy cried, delighted. "They're all fired up to fight too!"

I punched his head. "You're not supposed to be impressed!"

Luffy pouted at me. "Mean," he whined childishly, before he looked over at Zeff. "Hey, old man! It's a promise, right?"

Zeff groaned. "You don't have to tell me twice," he snapped in annoyance. "My restaurant would become a wreck if I let you work here for a full year anyways."

At this, I began to giggle as I remembered all of the broken dishes, eaten food, and general havoc that Luffy had caused in less than _ten minutes_.

"Where's Patty and Carne?" Sanji wondered, and I blinked, realizing that I hadn't heard the two most violent cooks in a while.

"They're busy with the battle preparations!" Soufflé announced with a grin, pumping a fist into the air. "Those guys sure are reliable in times like these!"

"_Only_ in times like these," Sanji grunted, and I snorted. "You better go to the control room and open up the 'fins'."

"Wha - you sure? That'll just give our enemies a foothold!" Soufflé protested, and Sanji scowled.

"Doesn't matter," he snapped back, before facing Zeff and pulling down the corner of his lip with mocking disdain. "The geezer won't shut up if we fight inside the restaurant."

"You say something, brat?" Zeff shot back, glowering at the bright blond, and Sanji continued to make the ridiculous face.

"Yeah, I said you won't shut up," he challenged, and Soufflé dashed off, not wanting to get in the middle of another fight between Sanji and Zeff.

"On it right away!"

"Hand that ship to us, you pathetic cooks!" the pirates roared as they moved to attack us, but before I could settle into a defensive position, I heard a cheer.

"Let's get things started!" I turned to Luffy, only to see him backing up through the entrance of the restaurant. His arms were still attached to the railing, and they stretched grotesquely the further and further he went. "Gomu gomu no…ROCKET!"

And with a snap, Luffy shot forward like a bullet, cackling all the while.

"AGGHH! HE'S FLYIN' RIGHT TOWARDS US!" several pirates screamed as they panicked. I watched in amazement as Luffy twisted in midair, still flying, and stretched out his arms.

"Followed by…SCYTHE!" Several pirates choked and toppled over in a dead faint as Luffy's stretched arms caught them in the neck, or in the head, sending them all flying into the ocean.

I goggled at the sight of twenty pirates or so pirates downed in an instant, and Luffy latched onto the tilted mast with a chuckle, satisfied with the havoc he had wreaked.

A slow smile spread across my face, and ecstatic, I cheered, "ALRIGHT! GO LUFFY!"

The other cooks joined in, roaring in delight. "That errand boy ain't that bad!"

"So the Grand Line is teeming with guys like him?" I heard Sanji ask, and I turned to him, smiling widely.

"Sounds insane, right?" I laughed as I turned back to Luffy. He stuck his tongue out at Don Krieg and grinned.

"I'll send ungrateful crooks like you flying!" he declared as he hugged the broken mast, and Sanji muttered, "What is he, a child?"

Don Krieg just laughed in reply. "Planning on fighting here where you can't even stand properly? I heard that devil fruit users are weak against the sea. Isn't that right, Hammer boy?"

Luffy just shrugged, totally unconcerned. "I can't swim, but in return, I can stretch!"

"TAKE OFF!" a familiar voice shouted, and the head of the Baratie's fish design detached itself. "BARATIE'S NAVAL WEAPON, 'SABAGASHI NUMBER ONE'!" Patty bellowed.

"IF YOU DON'T WANNA DIE, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY!" Carne added loudly, and Luffy's head swung around in excitement.

"DAMN THAT'S COOL!" he shrieked aloud, as a pirate shouted, "What the hell is that?!"

I snorted aloud at the sight of the fish trundling through the water as Patty and Carne tried to synchronize their pedaling.

"Hey, pedal properly!"

"No, you pedal faster!"

"I'm already pedalin'!"

"You're the one who has to pedal faster if we wanna turn left!" Patty snarled as the fish head continued to head out into open water, before it began to drift into a turn.

We all stared blankly at the fish as Carne yelled back, "Yeah, I _know_, dumbass! Just shut the hell up, you bald-headed freak!"

"…Idiots," Sanji muttered, and I was inclined to agree with him.

"FULL SPEED AHEAD!"

The pirates watched blankly for a few moments, but that's when the fish head picked up an enormous amount of speed. One minute, it was floating by the Baratie, and the next, it was charging towards the pirates. I could see their eyes bug comically in their faces as they began to panic.

"OH SHIT!"

"FIRE!"

_BOOM!_

I cheered at the sight of several more pirates flying off into the ocean, smoking and bruised from the fish head's attack.

"ALRIGHT, SHITTY COOKS!" I shouted in delight.

"NICE ONE, PATTY!"

"GO GET 'EM, CARNE!" we cheered.

"HEY!" Soufflé shouted from inside the restaurant. "Opening the 'fins'! Hey, Kalbi, you bastard, help out instead of hiding in the restaurant like a little girl!"

The fins of the Baratie, to put it simply, were extensions of the deck that hung underwater. We usually only used them if we needed more landing space for the ships that visited our restaurant. The deck vibrated and rumbled as Soufflé and Kalbi worked to raise the extensions, and Sanji shoved his hands into his pockets as the deck settled into place.

"If you pirates want a fight, then bring it."

* * *

**And there we go! I'll be updating again next Sunday, so stay tuned! Please review! And, as always, if you notice something missing or incorrect (since this chapter was a bit rushed in uploading), let me know and I'll fix it!  
**

**Posted: 1/27/2014, 4:03 PM**


	7. Pearls and Pirates

**Alright, a new update! For those of you that said you wanted to see Hazel fight, here you are! Originally, I had it so that she was out of this entire fight, but I decided to change it (which is why the last update was two weeks late). But now I'm satisfied, and now you'll get to see what happens next!**

**Thanks to: Juliedoo, Steampunk splatter21, CallmeEevee, TheRealEvanSG, Ryan.w123, kage kitsune 14, and that one anonymous reviewer! I love reading your reviews, and I love getting feedback! **

**And (imagine I'm saying this affectionately), thanks to Skitzykat101, my little brat of a sister that keeps helping me out with this! Thanks to her, I was able to plan out a bunch of new story arcs, the first of which you'll see right after the Arlong Arc. So much love and kudos to her! :)**

**And enough with the rambling on my part, I suppose. Onwards!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Water poured off of the platforms as they rose out of the ocean, and several pirates panicked at the sight of it, floundering in the water as they tried to get away.

"AGGHHH!"

"WHAT'S THAT?!"

"IT'S A PLATFORM, YOU IDIOTS!"

"YEAH, IT CAME FROM BELOW!"

"COOOOOOOL!" someone screamed from the destroyed ship. I'll give you three guesses as to who it was (and the first two don't count).

The cooks and I all stepped forward to defend against the first wave of pirates, who readied themselves to attack when they rose out of the ocean.

"Just what the hell can a couple of measly cooks do against us pirates?!" shouted one in encouragement as he led the charge, before his face met my foot.

"Don't you dare look down on us cooks of the sea!" shouted Breve, wielding his giant knife, and I ducked under a sword swing from another pirate, my heart thudding as adrenaline began to course through my veins. I shoved a foot out, forcing the pirate to stumble, and punched him as hard as I could in the face, grinning in satisfaction while he crumpled under the blow.

An explosion sounded off to where Krieg was, and I turned just in time to see Krieg holding off the mini fish head ship with ease, as Patty and Carne panicked and attempted to pedal faster.

"I ain't got time to play around with the likes of you!" Krieg bellowed, and flung the fish head out of the water.

I watched its flight for one glorious moment while Sanji muttered, "All talk and no substance…useless bastards."

"CRAP! WE'RE GONNA CRASH INTO THE RESTAURANT!" Patty screamed as he and Carne tried to right themselves, but with a powerful leap, Sanji jumped into the air, spun, and slammed a roundhouse kick into the flying fish boat's side. It careened under the blow, and crash-landed into the middle of the deck.

"He kicked it?!" Don Krieg growled, surprised, and Sanji landed gracefully back onto the deck with a cocky smirk.

"Heh," he snorted, straightening, and I grunted in complaint as I wiped dust and splinters off of my shoulders.

"What strength!" a pirate gasped as the cooks picked themselves back up from the first round of pirates.

"He kicked away that weird-ass ship!"

"That kicking technique!" Krieg growled in recognition, and Luffy laughed, a wide grin splayed across his face.

"Not bad!"

"SAAAAANNNNNJIIIIII!" roared our favorite violent chef, bursting out from underneath the floorboards of the deck with Carne following. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOUR ALLIES?!"

There was a pause as Sanji glanced over to the pair. He looked them over for a brief second, before turning back to face the pirates.

"Yeah."

I choked on my spit, laughing and coughing as Patty shrieked, "DID YOUR BRAINS BECOME BOILED INTO STEW, YOU ASSHOLE?!"

"YOU ALMOST LOST TWO POWERFUL FIGHTERS, YOU SPAGHETTI-HEAD!" snarled Carne with righteous indignation.

"Powerful?" I rasped with a snort, still trying to get over my impromptu coughing fit. "Come on, Patty! I took you out earlier with one kick!"

"She's right," a voice interrupted as boots clunked down onto the deck. "Powerful? Ha! Even if you hold weapons, a cook's still a cook! So why doncha scram back into some other kitchen on land?"

I glanced at the new group of pirates that crawled onto the deck, bored as they posed dramatically in an attempt to be threatening. These guys…I hate to admit it, but they were weaker than I'd thought they be. Why on _earth_ was I nervous earlier?

"Don't compare us to other pirates you've crossed before!" declared one that seemed to be the self-confirmed leader of the motley group. "We're pirates of Don Krieg, the ruler of East Blue!"

"Shit…" groaned Breve, picking himself up and wiping a trickle of blood from his face. "These guys are strong."

"They're nothing like the other pirates that we've been able to beat before!" agreed Soufflé, glaring at the group of pirates as he made no move to pick himself up off the deck.

I gawked at them. Seriously?!

Patty seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Are you gonna let them beat you that easily?!"

"And you call yourselves fightin' cooks?!" agreed Carne, shaking a fist at them.

"So what if you're fighting cooks?" laughed a pirate. "We fight for a living! So just quietly hand this boat over to us!"

"Ten years since I've been a cook!" growled Patty as he and Carne faced the horde. "And three hundred restaurants I've gone to! In every single one of 'em, I'd get into fights and fail to be hired! Those days were rough!"

"After searching and searching, we finally came to this restaurant," Carne muttered, brandishing a gigantic knife. "Here, whether it be fighting or cooking, we can do it as much as we want!"

"There ain't another place as good as this shop!" Patty shouted, swinging his giant fork.

"As if we'd hand it over to you pirate scum!" Carne added as he jumped into the fray.

I'll admit (reluctantly), those two were actually pretty impressive against the pirates. They took the pirates down one by one, and I watched in surprise as they swung their weapons, blood flying as they moved in tandem amidst frantic shouts and pained cries.

_Thunk_! _Thunk_!

"What the hell are you guys doing?" asked a new voice, and I tilted my head in confusion at the sight of a giant…marble? No, it wasn't a marble. It was a round guy with a lot of round shields, even shields on his hands. He looked a lot like a marble, though, and honestly, it looked kind of retarded.

"Hmm? Who's this guy?" demanded Carne.

He and Patty turned to face this newcomer, but they never had a chance to defend themselves. With a solid _crack_, they were sent crashing down into the deck as the man slammed one of the shields on his hands into their heads.

"Hahahaha! Behold!" he announced, posing and displaying his many shields. "My invincible iron wall!"

"Pearl!" Krieg's men shouted in relief, and I pointed at him as I looked at Sanji.

"Who's this idiot?" I asked quietly.

Apparently, I wasn't being as quiet as I thought as I was, because all of Krieg's men, including the new guy, face-planted into the deck.

"I'm not an idiot! I'm the invincible iron wall!" declared the new guy, picking himself up and waving his shields. One of them was stained in blood, and I grit my teeth at the sight of Carne and Patty's blood decorating it. "You won't be standing after my lethal punch! They just got a good taste of my special 'Pearl Present'!"

"Hey look! This guy's got a damn fine knife on him!" laughed a pirate gleefully, snatching it from Patty's apron. "Heh heh, don't mind if I do! This should cut better than my knife!"

As he rose from Patty's body, a meaty hand shot up and gripped the blade, blood dripping down Patty's arm as the pirate tried to tug it free.

"Hey, let go!" he cried, but Patty didn't listen. Instead, he gripped it tighter and tighter. "Let go of your damn knife! Just die already!"

"Hazel," Sanji said dangerously, and I looked up to see a murderous expression cross his face. "Move."

I shifted to the side, and in an instant, Sanji was slamming his foot into the pirate's chest with as much strength as he could muster, knocking the knife right out of his hands as the pirate coughed up blood from the blow.

I cheered enthusiastically as the pirate was sent flying out over the deck, and grinned even more when I saw him fall onto a couple more of his crewmates before slamming against Pearl. The large man didn't move an inch, and instead scoffed at the display. "Hmph."

"W-wha…?" the kicked pirate gasped, and Sanji easily caught the falling kitchen knife by its handle.

"No matter how many times I see it, his kicks are amazing," muttered Boccaccio to another cook in awe.

"A kitchen knife is the soul of a cook," Sanji warned. "It's not something an amateur like you should even _think_ of touching."

"S-Sanji?" gasped Patty, staring up at the blond in surprise, and Sanji handed it back.

"Here," he said shortly. "Now make sure you kick the bucket for good this time. I'll handle the rest."

I snorted. "Not without me," I warned.

He gave me an exasperated glance. "Hazel, why don't you just wait inside?" he asked, and I pouted at him stubbornly.

"No way! You're hogging all the good parts!" I argued, stepping to his side. "I can easily take them too!"

"'Easily take them'?" a pirate repeated. "My ass! You're just a cook and a brat! You think you can take us all on?" The pirates let out another roar and charged at us, but Sanji and I both let out identical smirks before disappearing.

"What the - URK!" a pirate gurgled as Sanji planted his hands onto the floor and kicked out, spinning his body much like a pinwheel as he took down pirate after pirate.

I, on the other hand, wasn't as good as Sanji, so I settled for simple roundhouse kicks, front kicks, and side kicks, occasionally dodging a sword swing or bullet as I took the pirates down.

"_Just_ a cook?" Sanji asked, insulted. "I'll kill you, scum. And don't you _dare_ call Hazel-chan a brat!"

"Sanji-nii," I sighed, exasperated. "Now's not the time."

"Hah!" Pearl interrupted with disdain, swinging around his shields. "To beat up all of 'em using only your feet…you two strike me as a pair of lazy pieces of trash…or is that your policy?"

"Well, not for me," I admitted. "Sanji-nii has been teaching me, but I'm not a cook, so I don't really care to use my hands or not."

Sanji smirked at Pearl. "True," he said to the pirate. "Normally, it wouldn't be that big of an issue like Hazel-chan here, but a cook's hands are his life. I can't risk fighting with them. But don't worry," he assured the large, round man. "My feet'll be more than enough to take you down."

"_You_ take _me_ down?" asked Pearl incredulously, as if the idea was ludicrous. "I'm afraid that just ain't happening! In the last sixty-one fights I've been in, I've won them all without even so much as a scratch on me! You may protect your hands in a fight, but I fight while protecting my entire body! I've never even lost a single drop of blood in all the fights I've been in. Not one, _single_ drop. That's proof of my invincible strength! That's why they call me the Krieg Pirates' 'Iron Shield Pear!" A sleazy smirk spread across his face, and he tacked on, "And my iron defense has got quite the fashion sense."

I wasn't impressed. At all.

"You're an idiot," I told him bluntly, and Pearl glowered at me.

"You're just jealous of my style," he sniffed, turning away from me, and I shook my head as a shudder ran down my spine.

"Sanji-nii, if I ever get the same fashion sense as him, please kill me," I said to the blond, and he smirked.

"Request denied. I might kick you a bit, though," he teased, and I huffed a laugh.

"Alright, that's enough talk for now," Sanji said, bending one knee and lifting his leg. "I'd like to see you try to fight us without getting _hurt_!" He thrust his lifted leg upwards, straightening it out into a devastating kick, but it was blocked by Pearl's shield. I raced around Sanji as he held Pearl in place, and tried to punch Pearl in the side. However, he just sneered and blocked my fist with another shield, and I hissed and hopped back.

"Shit, that hurts!" I mumbled as I shook out my hand. My knuckles throbbed from the hit, and Pearl leered at us.

"I can even withstand a direct blast from a battleship cannon!" Pearl bragged, blocking me as I attempted a roundhouse kick. "No matter the attack, I'm impenetrabl -!"

"ACK!"

A blur of red and blue flew from the sky with a startled shout, and Luffy collided into the back of Pearl's head, causing Pearl's face to meet the back of the shield blocking Sanji's attack.

Sanji and I drew back as Luffy picked himself, dusting off his pants and sighing, "Whew, that was close!" he said brightly. "Glad I didn't fall into the ocean!"

I looked at Pearl warily. The man hadn't moved since Luffy hit him, and he was staring at the shield his face hit, completely still as his eyes grew bigger and bigger. A thin line of red trickled from his nose, and he touched it, pulling his hand away to stare blankly at the crimson dotting his fingers.

"Shit," Krieg swore, pausing in the middle of advancing on Luffy, and the pirates around us seemed to share his sentiment.

"IT'S BLOOD!" one screamed. "OH SHIT!"

"…Blood?" Pearl gasped, still staring at the blood on his hands, and the pirates hastily tried to comfort the round man.

"Pearl, it's fine!"

"It's just a little nosebleed! Everyone gets those! You haven't really been hurt at all!" a pirate explained desperately.

"So just calm down, Pearl!"

I scrunched up my face in disgust as Pearl began to sweat, and he trembled. "My…iron wall was broken through! These guys are dangerous!"

"What the hell's up with him?" Sanji asked, unconcerned, and Luffy picked his nose.

"It's just a little nosebleed," he agreed, pulling his finger out and flicking the booger out in an unknown direction.

"PEARL!" Krieg's shout snapped out like a whip, and Pearl straightened hastily as Krieg called, "Stop it! There's no need to go wild over a damn nosebleed! This ain't the jungle!"

There was a brief silence, and I tensed as Pearl poured something all over himself, and then flicked a match.

"DANGER!" he screamed, just as he burst into flames.

My eyes bugged at the sight, and Sanji and I leaped away to a safer distance. "HOLY SHIT!"

"FIRE?!" several of the cooks said shrilly in surprise, and the pirates all began to panic hardcore.

"Crap! He's doing that thing he learned to do while growing up in the jungle!"

"Back in the jungle full of wild beasts, every time Pearl felt that he was in danger, he lit himself on fire!"

"WHAT?!" snapped Gnocchi as Pearl began to flail his shields around, looking like a gigantic marble flambé.

"It's his defense tactic against beasts?!"

"DON'T YOU DARE GET CLOSE TO ME!" Pearl shouted raggedly, reaching up towards the heavens with his burning shields. "FIRE PEARL'S DAITOKIKUTEN!"

My eyes widened in alarm when several little shields flew out at us, and Sanji swore as he jumped back. Luffy back-flipped away, grimacing and muttering, "Hot!"

I, on the other hand, ended up getting hit by one of the little fires, and I shouted aloud in a panic as my sleeve caught on fire.

"HAZEL!" Sanji bellowed frantically, skidding out of Pearl's range, but I ignored him and instead dove into the sea water nearby.

Instantly, the flame was doused, and I resurfaced, spluttering.

"I'm fine!" I called, clambering back onto the deck and stomping out a few of the fires. "Sanji-nii, I'm fine!"

I looked around. It seemed like I wasn't the only one hit by Pearl's attack. Several pirates were screaming and running around like headless chickens as they tried to put their fires out.

"PLEASE STOP, PEARL!" one shouted desperately, and Zeff scowled. He hadn't moved an inch since the fight began, and he folded his arms.

"The ship's gonna catch on fire!" he snapped, and a few of the cooks jolted into action, rushing about in order to put the deck out.

"BURN!" shrieked Pearl, looking quite demented as his eyes rolled in fear. "WITH MY FLAME SHIELD, MY IRON WALL IS NOW EVEN MORE INVINCIBLE!"

"That damn idiot," Krieg growled from his position on the ruined ship. "Is he trying to burn down the very ship we're trying to steal into cinders?"

I jumped back when Luffy raced past me, his ass on fire, and my breath hitched as my foot slipped against the edge of the deck. I cursed Luffy as I tumbled back into the water. "DAMN YOU LUFF-GGURG!"

Luffy didn't seem to pay attention at all, continuing to run around as the fire from Pearl's attack spread, and I began to count the ways I could maim the rubber teen as I hauled myself back onto the burning deck.

"Shit! Fire in the front and the ocean to the back!" a pirate yelled. "We've got no place to run too!"

"Screw that!" another pirate snapped, making an awkward dive into the ocean as his pant legs caught on fire. "It's too hot! I can't take it anymore!"

"Jump into the sea!"

"HAHAHAHA!" Pearl laughed insanely, still swinging his shields around and creating more flames. "CAN'T GET NEAR ME, CAN YOU?!"

"That bastard!" Sanji hissed, and my eyes widened as he raced through the flames towards the crazy pirate.

"SANJI-NII!" I shrieked, rushing after him, and Patty pushed himself up onto his knees.

"Sanji, you dumbass!" he bellowed. "You'll get burnt to a crisp!"

"Patty, stay back!"

Sanji glanced at me, gave me a fleeting grin, and jumped up into a graceful arc, easily flipping in the air as he hollered, "DON'T YOU DARE BURN THIS RESTAURANT DOWN!" When one of his feet pointed upwards, he twisted and kicked down, using gravity as a way to kick with more power.

However, Pearl reached up and blocked Sanji with one of the shields on his hand. But as Sanji began to fall back to the deck, he nodded at me, and suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

I gulped and took a deep breath to prepare myself, and then…vanished.

Well, not really. But I did begin to run through the flames as fast as I could, my hair and tail streaming behind me like a pair of banners as I ran. I jumped through some of the flames, and rolled upon landing to put out any unwanted fires on my body before continuing towards Pearl.

He didn't notice my approach at all; he was too busy demanding, "H-How could you attack me, the fire Pearl, that wild beasts won't even approach -?!" I raced around to Pearl's back as Sanji lit a cigarette using the flames dancing around us.

"Idiot," he said with a smirk. "How could a chef even cook if he was afraid of fire?"

And at that moment, I slammed my foot upwards, kicking Pearl firmly in the balls.

He let out a strangled, girlish squeal, his hands flying towards his crotch as he fell to his knees, and I went to stand by Sanji, both of us looking down at the marble-man.

And I'll have to admit, we looked_ kick-ass_.

"D-damn you!" Pearl gasped out, looking a little green before he threw a weak punch at us. "Y-you bastards -! Fire pearl present!"

I ducked back out of the way as Sanji hand-sprung forward, yanking his body back and kicking Pearl firmly in the face.

"AHH! THEY GOT HIM!" a pirate shouted from the ocean as I absently moved out of the way of the flames. "They both slipped past Pearl's iron wall!"

The force of Sanji's kick sent Pearl crashing into the ground, sprawled out on his back, and Sanji grinned savagely as he flipped and landed on his feet next to me.

"Who are these guys?! They're serious trouble!"

"M-MY FACE!" Pearl screamed, tears and blood pouring down as he clutched at a broken nose. He began to clang his shields together and screamed, like a broken alarm, "DANGER! THEY'RE TOO DANGEROUS! MORE FIRE! MORE FIRE PEARLS!"

"AGGGHH!" Soufflé yelped as the bullets headed straight to Zeff, who was _still_ standing at the entrance of the restaurant. "He's planning to burn down the restaurant!"

"This place is gone if the fires spread to the kitchen!"

"Owner, run away!" Breve shouted desperately, straining to push himself upright, but Zeff just rolled his eyes.

And with a quick flick of his peg leg, all the mini cannonballs extinguished, clunking harmlessly against the walls of the restaurant.

"W-what?" stammered Gnocchi in shock, and Zeff shrugged.

"I may have lost one leg, but this much is nothing I can't handle," he scoffed dismissively, and the cooks began to grin.

"That's incredible sir!" Boccaccio exclaimed.

"He put out the fire with the wind blast created from his kick!" enthused Romaine with a beam on his face.

"Holy crap! Maybe Red-Leg Zeff's still got it!" the pirates gawked and gasped.

"Old man, that was amazing!" Luffy called from the edge of the Baratie's porch, grinning from ear to ear.

"That idiot Pearl's more trouble than he's worth!" growled Krieg, catching all of our attention as he pulled back, grasping something behind his back. "Before that fire spreads to the rest of the restaurant, I'LL SINK THOSE FINS!" And with a mighty lunge, he swung a heavy spiked ball on a chain over his head, right towards where Sanji, Pearl, and I were standing.

"Sanji! Hazel! Watch out!" Breve screamed, and was smacked by Gnocchi for his efforts.

"Idiot! It's no good! They're surrounded by flames!"

Sanji and I were frozen at the sight of the large, spiked ball swinging towards us, but a movement to our side swiftly yanked our attention away.

"Hot!" Luffy cried as he jumped through the flames like a crazy person, and Sanji nearly dropped his cigarette as Luffy threw his arms back. "GOMU GOMU NO…BAZOOKA!"

And with a mighty thrust, he slammed both of his palms into the side of the spiked ball. My eyes bugged out at the sight, and I watched, flabbergasted, as Luffy threw the ball back to where it came from. Krieg's eyes widened, and he skipped to the side just as the spiked ball slammed into the broken mast next to him. The mast splintered under the force, and began to fall as Luffy landed on his feet.

There was a long moment as Sanji and I stared at Luffy, unable to form words after the crazy feat of strength we witnessed, and Luffy began to smack his back.

"HOOOOT!" he screeched, hastily trying to put the flames that caught onto his vest out. "HOT! HOT! HOT!"

Before my mouth was able to gargle a 'thank you' for the rubber teen, a creak caught our attention, and my eyes widened when I realized that the falling mast was headed straight towards us.

My heart thudding wildly, I threw myself to the side, narrowly dodging the broken mast as it crashed down. I rolled upon landing, and easily hopped back up to my feet, whirling around to stare at the mast.

I blinked, and straightened at the sight of a tottering Pearl, his head almost smashed into his neck. Apparently, he didn't get out of the way in time.

"PEARL!" several pirates shouted, and cautiously, I approached the swaying man. Hesitantly, I reached out, and poked his side.

_CRASH!_

I blinked, and then grinned when Pearl tilted over and collapsed against the mast, clearly out cold.

"What's up with this dude?" Sanji asked, completely misreading the situation. I noticed that he had lost his cigarette in the middle of all the action, but he didn't seem inclined to light another.

"Are you joking?!" I demanded, gawking at the blond cook in disbelief. How could he not see the fact that Pearl had been hit by the mast?! I mean, the mast was _broken_ where Pearl had been standing.

"Maybe he's mentally ill," Luffy commented idiotically, and I slapped my forehead.

"ARE YOU BOTH MORONS?!"

Sanji gently cuffed the back of my head. "Don't call your older brother a moron," he scolded, and I pouted insolently before sticking my tongue out at him.

Suddenly, someone screamed a warning in the background, and Sanji, Luffy, and I whirled around to see Zeff thrown to the floor. There was a creaking of wood before Zeff's peg leg was snapped off, and Gin said, "Please stop fighting, Sanj, Hazel." He placed his foot on Zeff's back, pinning the head chef to the floor as he absently twirled Zeff's broken peg-leg in one hand. The other hand, however, was holding a gun, aimed straight at Zeff's head. "I don't want to end up killing you."

"GEEZER!" I shrieked, frightened for the old man. Despite the man's gruff nature and appearance, I was actually very fond of the man.

"GIN!" Luffy exclaimed through gritted teeth, and Sanji had frozen where he was standing.

"Gin, you…!"

"No matter how great a man he might have been in the past, he's just another cook that I can easily kill at gunpoint now," Gin explained calmly as he stared at Sanji and I through sunken eyes.

"That bastard!" Patty hissed, still struggling to push himself upright, but his legs wouldn't support his weight. "He broke Owner Zeff's leg!"

"Son of a bitch!" Carne swore. "Sir! Hang in there!"

"That's it!" Luffy declared, stretching out his shoulder as he made to attack Gin. "I'm gonna send him flying!"

"Wait," Sanji ordered, holding out a hand to calm Luffy as he stared at Gin. "Let's see what he has to say first."

"You want to save this man, don't you?" Gin asked levelly, his eyes still fixed on us. "Then leave this ship!"

"AS IF!" I shouted, giving Gin the middle finger as Sanji sighed at my un-ladylike behavior.

"H-Hazel, you idiot!" Breve shouted in horror. "Don't provoke him any more or Owner Zeff'll be -!"

"Old man, you're pathetic," interrupted Sanji with a taunt, giving Zeff and exaggerated eye-roll. "That's the kind of example you set when the other cooks are trying to fight?"

"Hmph," Zeff grumbled, glaring at Sanji despite the gun in his face. "I don't need to hear that from a little eggplant like you."

I swallowed. Zeff usually only called Sanji that when he was _really _pissed off, or when the situation was really serious, like now. The last time he had called Sanji that was when Sanji had been taken hostage by a small group of pirates demanding food last year, before Zeff promptly kicked their asses.

Sanji's chest swelled, and he shouted angrily, "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A LITTLE EGGPLANT, YOU DAMN GEEZER?! YOU CAN'T TREAT ME AS A KID FOREVER!"

"Sanji, you idiot!" I heard Dosa the baker yelp. "Now's not the time!"

"You're not _trying_ to get Owner Zeff killed, are ya?!" demanded Gnocchi.

"Gin," Sanji said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down, "Take your gun, and point it at me."

My eyes widened, and I hissed. "Like hell!"

"Are you stupid?" Luffy asked bluntly. "You'll die instead!"

"Whatever," Sanji growled, and the cooks began shouting up a storm.

"W-What're you saying?!"

"SANJI!"

Gin, on the other hand, looked startled, and his grip on the gun faltered as he stared at the blond. "Sanji…! But why?!"

"If you want to die so badly," groaned a voice from behind us, "then I'll kill you nice and easily!"

I whirled around, and cursed at the sight of Pearl rising to his feet. He _still_ wasn't down?!

"I never imagined, even in my dreams, that I, Iron Wall Pearl, would be given a broken nose in a single fight," he gasped, glaring at Luffy, Sanji, and I. He winced when he touched his broken nose, and breathed heavily through his mouth. "I see now how dangerous you guys are. Now, don't move if you don't want that old man's head to be blown off!"

My eyes widened as Pearl reared back, clearly aiming for Sanji, and I hastily glanced back. Gin hadn't moved from his position, but he was staring at Sanji in worry. But Sanji couldn't do anything to get out of the way because Zeff was still under gunpoint.

I gritted my teeth. I didn't want to do this, but it seemed like this was probably the only way to freak Gin out enough to move his gun away. And it would be protecting Sanji!

I sucked in a deep breath, before racing over to Sanji's side as Pearl shouted, "ULTRA NATURAL PEARL PRESENT!"

And before Sanji could react, I shoved him out of the way, and took the blow to my body.

'_Son of a __**bitch**_!'

I could feel bones breaking under the pressure of the blow, and my vision darkened as my body was lifted up off the ground. For a brief second, I experienced the wonderful sensation of flight…before it was ruined by the nearby wall of the restaurant. I almost blacked out on impact; the pain was too great, and why the hell did I do this again…?

"HAZEL!" Sanji bellowed in horror, and I slid down the wall, coughing up blood as my entire body throbbed with pain. Oh, right. For Sanji.

"S-shit," I coughed, spitting out the blood welling up in my mouth. My arms trembled as I tried to push myself up, but a sharp, piercing pain in my side caused my arms to give out.

"HAZEL! ARE YOU OKAY?!" shouted Luffy from the side, but I ignored him when Sanji kicked Luffy in the side.

"OF COURSE SHE'S NOT!" he shouted, his eyes fixed frantically on me. I groggily met his gaze, and was surprised by the sheer amount of fear that Sanji displayed.

Then, slowly, I dragged my attention over to Gin, and smirked.

It seemed like my plan had worked, no matter how badly it hurt. Gin looked rattled, his face pale as his gun hand shook.

"You…!" I heard Luffy snarl, but Sanji grabbed him.

"Don't lay a finger on him, errand boy!" he shouted, white-faced and furious, and Luffy glared back at him.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU DODGE THAT?!" he demanded furiously, but before Sanji could answer, I spoke up.

"B-because the geezer's held at g-gunpoint by him," I gasped, struggling to push myself up again, and almost immediately, Sanji was at my side, running his hands over my back. I groaned aloud in pain as his fingers brushed my ribs, and gingerly, he lifted me up and settled me against the wall.

"Don't you _dare_ do that again," Sanji threatened, and I gave him a weak smile as blood dribbled down my chin.

"N-no promises," I replied.

Sanji's forehead creased, and he stroked my hair before straightening, murderous intent lining his body.

"Gin, you cheap son of a bitch," he snarled venomously. "There's no way I can accept your conditions now!"

"Why not?" Gin spluttered, still shaken. I could see his eyes still darting over to me as he spoke to Sanji, and he seemed to grow paler ad paler with each glance. "It's simple! Just leave this ship and you can spare everyone's lives! All you have to do is leave…!"

"This ship is the Geezer's treasure!" Sanji snapped, turning to face Gin. "And you're the reason why Hazel is suffering right now!"

Gin's eyes widened, and he looked down with guilt.

"Sanji!" I heard someone gasp, but my brain wasn't connecting the voice to anyone I knew for some reason. Actually, everything right now was kind of scrambled.

"I thought Sanji hated the owner," said another, and I saw Sanji's fists clench.

"I took everything away from that damn geezer," he admitted slowly, and from the confused looks that everyone was giving him, they didn't seem to get it.

But I got it. I understood.

'_A hand fell, and I felt myself scrambling to grab the hand, the panic of not being able to get a proper grip on it increasing as the hand dangled back, a trail of bright crimson snaking down the hand to drip onto my face…'_

I knew, without a doubt, that the person that died in that single memory had been protecting me. It had been my fault that he died. And I never told anybody, never told anybody of the guilt that plagued my dreams for months after the memory. It was the only memory that I remembered from before the Baratie, and it haunted me for days before I came to terms with it.

But the guilt never went away. Because it was _all my fault_.

"I took his strength! His dreams!" Sanji continued hoarsely, as tears began to drip down his face. "I DON'T WANT HIM TO LOSE ANYTHING ELSE!"

"Damn eggplant," Zeff muttered in annoyance. "Now's not the time to ramble about ancient history."

"SHUT UP!" Sanji shouted hoarsely. "AND I TOLD YOU NOT TO TREAT ME AS A DAMN KID ANYMORE!"

"SANJI, WATCH OUT!"

The shout rang in my ears before I heard a voice roar, "PEARL CLOSE!"

There was a choked grunt, and all I saw was red. Dark, bloody red.

"NO! SANJI!" I screamed as Sanji crumbled to the ground, his face bleeding. Somehow, my body found the strength to move, and I flew at Pearl with deadly intent. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM, YOU BASTARD!"

And with adrenaline coursing through my veins, I fell into a handspring and propelled myself forward, slamming both of my feet into the bastard's face and slamming him down into the ground.

"HAZEL!" I twisted around to look at Gin, and despite the fact that he looked extremely hurt and guilty, he bellowed, "DON'T YOU TAKE ANOTHER STEP, OR I'LL BLOW HIS HEAD OFF!"

I faltered, my hand flying up to grip my broken ribs as the pain slowly set back in.

"THIS IS DIRTY, GIN!" Luffy hollered furiously. He still hadn't moved from his spot, but he was glaring at Gin with promises of pain.

"THIS IS HOW WE FIGHT!" Gin shouted in reply. "THIS IS THEIR FAULT ANYWAYS! ALL THEY NEED TO DO IS HAND OVER THE SHIP TO US AND IT'D BE ALL OVER!"

"PEARL…UPPERCUT!" A crushing blow struck my face, and I toppled over as pain swamped through me.

"HAZEL!" the cooks shouted in fear, and Sanji struggled to push himself upright.

"I can't let them get hurt!" he gasped frantically, but he was then slammed into the ground thanks to a body-slam from Pearl.

"PEARL PRESENT!"

"S-Sanji!" I gasped weakly, unable to do much now as I lay sprawled on the deck.

"Took everything away from the owner…?" a cook murmured. "What'd Sanji mean by that?"

"JUST WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED, SANJI?! WHAT'S MAKING YOU FIGHT SO HARD FOR THIS?!" Boccaccio bellowed.

Slowly, Sanji picked himself up, and mumbled to Zeff, defeated, "…You ate your own leg and gave me all of the food…you saved my life."

"Sanji!" Luffy gasped, and my heart ached just imagining the amount of pain that Sanji had to go through, all the pain that he was _still_ going through.

"He can still talk after taking my Pearl Present?" Pearl demanded in annoyance, and with a slight grunt, Sanji forced himself back onto his feet.

"Hazel," he murmured, and I perked up at the sound of my name. Slowly, I looked over at Sanji, and he grinned at me, his mouth and nose still gushing blood. "Can you stand?"

I stared at him, before a grin spread across my own face. "…Yeah," I said, and Sanji helped me up when my arms couldn't.

"They stood back up!" someone exclaimed in hushed admiration, and Sanji and I both firmed our stances in front of Pearl.

"We're not handing over this restaurant," I announced with quiet determination. My whole body hurt, hell, my _face_ hurt, but this was important to Sanji, and therefore, important to me. Not only that, but I was fond of the restaurant. I'd rather defend it than let pirates get their shitty hands all over it.

"And we won't let you kill the damn geezer, either," Sanji agreed, wiping away the blood that coated his chin. "He's a geezer who gave up everything for the sake of one little brat." He drew a deep breath, and then declared loudly, "IF I CAN'T EVEN PUT MY LIFE AT RISK TO SAVE HIM, THEN I CAN NEVER REPAY MY DEBT TO HIM!"

* * *

"…Repay his debt?"

"Sanji! Hazel! Don't do any more unnecessary things! I'm not so old and feeble enough that I need to be rescued by a little monkey and eggplant!"

Okay, that monkey comment just pissed me off.

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK, GEEZER!" I hollered indignantly, despite the pain in my ribs, and Sanji placed a calming hand on my shoulder.

"If you hadn't given up your leg for my sake, then these guys wouldn't be able to push you around!" Sanji said quietly.

"…Hazel's barely standing," a cook whispered to another.

"So owner Zeff gave up his leg to save Sanji?"

"Then the reason why he's stayed here all along must've been to repay his debt to Owner Zeff!" realized Patty, staring at Sanji with newfound respect.

"Never would've imagined that two people who argue all the time would share such a deep relationship," wondered Carne.

"Why…" We glanced back at Gin, who was staring at us with worry and fear. "Why do you both still stand up?!"

"HAHAHAHA!" Pearl laughed maniacally. "STILL HAVEN'T HAD ENOUGH OF MY PEARL PRESENT?! YOU AIN'T GOT A CHANCE OF WINNING!"

"Go screw yourself," I growled, wiping as much blood as I could off of my face. "You got a few cheap shots, but you're not getting any more!"

"It doesn't matter!" Pearl declared with a leer at me. "All that matters in this world is if you lose, then you're a loser! There's no other way about it! It doesn't matter if you take hostages! It doesn't matter if you take cheap shots! The last man standing is the victor! Isn't that right, Don Krieg?" he called over his shoulder, and Krieg smirked.

"Exactly."

"Right Gin?" laughed Pearl, but when Gin didn't answer, Pearl snorted. "Right. Guess it's not even necessary to ask. You _are_ the one holding him at hostage after all." He turned back to face us, and added, "In any case, you'll lose without even laying a finger on us in the end. So why do you still stand?! You'll only be beaten to a bloody pulp if you do!"

Sanji then grinned stubbornly despite the blood trickling down his chin. "I want to preserve this restaurant, even if it's just one second longer."

"And what Sanji-nii wants, I want," I declared quietly.

"ARRGH!" Patty groaned in frustration. "Are you _trying_ to kill yourself?!"

Zeff huffed a laugh. "Damn brats."

Pearl whistled. "Hah! Well, well! Ain't that a flashy last stand! But the time to close up this restaurant is now at hand! From now on, it'll be a pirate ship! DOUBLY-CERTAIN PEARL…PRESENT!"

And with a sickening thud, Pearl crashed a shield into Sanji's face, sending the blond cook tumbling head over heels and into the railing. He slumped down with a grunt, and I gritted my teeth as Pearl turned to me amidst shouts of, "SANJI!"

"Shit! The fire's spreading!" Breve yelped as he accidentally burned his arm.

"The restaurant is going to burn down for sure this time!" exclaimed Gnocchi, and the pirates began to toss water up from where they were floating.

"H-hey! We gotta put out this fire or there'll be no point in taking over this ship!"

"I'm tryin', but the fire's too big!"

"PEARL SLAM!" The shout caught me off guard, and I let out a choked scream as the shield on Pearl's hand swung into my stomach. But before I could fly off, he seized my tail and yanked me back for a terrible haymaker to the face.

I crumbled under the blow, and my vision darkened as I heard alarmed shouts from those watching on the sidelines.

Pearl laughed in delight. "HAHA! FEEL FREE TO FIGHT BACK IF YOU WANT! THAT IS, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T MIND LETTING THE OLD MAN DIE!"

I blearily opened my eyes as Pearl moved to stomp on me, but another shout interrupted him.

"AARRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Luffy kicked his foot into the sky with all his might, and I watched dazedly as it shot up into the sky, the limb stretching and stretching and stretching…

"STOP, YOU IDIOT!" Sanji shouted fearfully. "DON'T ATTACK HIM!"

"What's he planning?!"

"What the hell?"!

"GOMU GOMU NO…AXE!"

And the fins exploded into smithereens.

There wasn't much I could do, but my entire body jarred from the force of the explosion as people shouted and dove away in a panic. The deck my body was resting on tilted dangerously, and I let out a weak cry for help as I felt my body slipping towards the water. If I landed in it, I'd be a goner. There was no way I could swim in my condition.

And with agonizing slowness, my body slipped into the water.

I choked as I accidentally inhaled water, and I began to panic as water filled my lungs. But no matter how much I struggled, I couldn't move my limbs.

'_Swim, damn it! __**SWIM**__!'_

Hands seized me roughly beneath my shoulders, and I spluttered and sprayed water when my head broke the surface.

"Don't worry, I gotcha," a familiar voice soothed, and my head rolled back to stare at a face I didn't expect to see.

"K-Kalbi?" I gasped, and Kalbi nodded with a grin.

"Of course!" he affirmed brightly. "Just because I'm a hemophiliac doesn't mean I can't help out!"

I sagged weakly against him and let him support my weight. "Thanks. Sorry I can't do anything else."

He just grinned and ruffled my dripping hair. "It's okay. You fought hard, and that's what counts."

* * *

"That little brat," Krieg growled as he steadied himself on the deck of his old ship. "Gin!" he shouted. "Just blow that damn geezer's head off!"

I watched as Gin faltered. "B-but -!" he stammered, and I could see the doubt flickering in his eyes as he struggled against the order.

"Hey," Luffy said, in a tone of dawning realization. "I haven't laid a single finger on you guys at all. All I did was break the fins."

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, ERRAND BOY?!" Sanji raged, picking himself up from the rubble. "ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!"

"Yup!" Luffy agreed before he turned to face the Baratie, a thoughtful expression crossing his face before he announced, "I'll sink this ship."

My jaw dropped.

"WHAT?!"

"WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?!" the cooks and pirates roared in tandem.

"OH HELL NO!" Patty shrieked, his face red with fury as the other cooks voiced their disagreements, loudly.

"THIS SHIP IS OURS!" the pirates screeched indignantly. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

"LUFFY!" I screamed despite my ribs hurting like a bitch. "I'LL KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU DO!"

"GIN!" Krieg shouted, spit flying in panic as he ordered, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! KILL ZEFF ALREADY!"

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR _MIND_?!" Sanji hollered, seizing Luffy by the back of the teen's vest, and Luffy just blinked in reply. "JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'VE BEEN WORKING FOR IN THIS RESTAURANT?!"

"But if the ship's destroyed, their plans will be ruined," Luffy pointed out obliviously.

"AND OURS TOO!" I raged. Honestly, if I had been feeling any better, I'd had gone up there and kicked his ass all the way to the Grand Line for even _suggesting_ such a thing!

Kalbi, on the other hand, rolled his eyes and began to tow me to the remaining pieces of the deck, helping me up before hoisting himself out.

"Do you have any idea what this restaurant means to me? Or the gravity of my debt?!" Sanji snarled, but Luffy slapped his hand away.

"So you're planning to die for this restaurant? What're you, stupid?"

"WHAT?!"

Luffy grabbed the front of Sanji's jacket, and bellowed, "YOU WON'T BE REPAYING ANY DEBT BY DYING!"

Shock crossed Sanji's face as I stared at Luffy in surprise. That…was actually a valid point. "Holy shit."

Luffy glared at Sanji, and said through gritted teeth, "That's not what he saved you for! To throw away your life and die like this after being saved…That's what a weakling does!"

"Well, it's not like _you_ know of a better way out of this mess!" Sanji argued back, the shock quickly morphing into anger as he grabbed Luffy's vest again.

They glared at each other for a brief moment, before a new voice interrupted.

"Now, now, stop this fighting, you two," cajoled Pearl with a stupid grin on his shitty face. "It's just your bad fortune to have gone up against the Krieg pirates. You picked the wrong enemies. There's nothing you can do against us! As long as we have a hostage, that is! I'll burn you to death with my fire pearls!"

He rushed at Luffy and Sanji, and they prepared themselves for an attack…

…That never came?

One moment, Pearl was running towards Luffy and Sanji, and the next, Gin was flying past him with weighted tonfas bared. He landed past Pearl with nary a sound, but Pearl…Pearl's shield exploded into a million pieces.

"GIN?!"

"Sorry Pearl, but I need you to get out of my way for a little while," Gin said coolly as Pearl collapsed, blood coming out of his mouth.

"W-why…Gin?" he gasped before he slumped over, finally unconscious.

"GIN!" a pirate shouted. "WHY DID YOU ATTACK PEARL?!"

"_GIN_!" Don Krieg looked more furious than I had ever seen him. "YOU _DARE_ BETRAY ME?!"

"My apologies, Don Krieg," Gin apologized, before he turned to face Sanji and Luffy. "But please, allow me to put an end to our saviors with my own two hands."

"That's messed up," Kalbi muttered. "It doesn't even make sense!"

"There, see?" Luffy laughed. "My decoy strategy worked! Things worked out pretty well, don't you think?"

"SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLE!" I screamed at Luffy, not buying it for a second.

"YOUR STRATEGY WAS TO DESTROY THIS SHIP!" Sanji agreed angrily.

"Have you lost your mind, Fleet Battle Commander Gin?" Krieg demanded with a thunderous scowl.

Gin shook his head in denial, before addressing Sanji. "Sanji, I wanted you and Hazel to leave this ship without getting hurt, but it seems like it didn't turn out that way."

"No shit," Sanji agreed, pulling out a cigarette and easily lighting it.

"So then the least I could do is kill you and Hazel myself," Gin rationalized. "At least, that's the solution I arrived at."

"Huh. Well, thank you," Sanji replied as my jaw dropped. No way in _hell_ was I letting that bastard kill me! And what kind of messed up logic was that?! And Sanji seemed to be BUYING it?! "Now, kindly eat shit and die."

"You too, Strawhat," Gin added, glancing at Luffy with an apathetic expression. "It would've been best for you to leave with your crewmates earlier."

"Hm?" Luffy perked up, before he said, "Nah, it's not as if I could ever be beaten by weaklings like you."

Silence reigned as everyone processed Luffy's statement, and I choked out a laugh as all the pirates began to thrash in the water with silent indignation before they exploded.

"HE JUST CALLED US WEAKLINGS AND TOLD OUR COMMANDER OFF!"

"WE'RE THE KRIEG PIRATES, THE STRONGEST PIRATE CREW IN ALL OF EAST BLUE!"

Luffy looked over at the pirates, and asked, bluntly, "Weren't you guys just the biggest pirate crew?"

The pirates all toppled back into the ocean in shock, and I couldn't take it anymore.

I began to howl with laughter, crying with pain and laughing my ass off at the same time. "STOP IT!" I gasped, tears streaming down my face as my ribs hurt from laughing. "IT HURTS!"

Sanji smirked, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Right on target, huh?" he asked in amusement, and Luffy shrugged.

"Guess I was right."

"You idiot!" howled Breve from the water. "Don't provoke them any more!"

"You're still up against Don Krieg!"

"His strength's the real thing!"

"That dimwit!" Patty squeaked from next to Carne and Zeff by the entrance, and Zeff picked himself up with a chuckle.

"THAT'S IT!" The pirates began to leap out of the water, swinging weapons with wild cries. "LET'S KILL THEM OURSELVES!"

"STEP BACK, ALL OF YOU!" They skidded to a halt at Krieg's command, and began to protest.

"D-Don Krieg…"

"But they -!"

"A person who gets angry just for being called weak is indirectly admitting that he's weak," Krieg pointed out. He had been watching the entire fight from the broken deck, but now he was lounging against a raised part as he smirked at his crew. "The final result is what decides who's strong and who's not. I'm still standing here, so don't you start whining for nothing."

The pirates all looked at their leader with stars in their eyes, and they saluted. "Yes Don!"

"Of course, Don!"

"Talk about leadership," Patty spat in disgust, and Carne shrugged.

"His title 'Don' as the fleet admiral of fifty ships isn't just for show, I guess," he commented.

"You there, brat." Krieg's voice lashed out, and Luffy looked over at Krieg with a blank expression. "Who do you think is more fit to become the pirate king? You or me?"

I thought Luffy would debate a little before answering, but he just said, "Me." Not even with the slightest bit of hesitation! He just folded his arms and stood there, like he was stating a fact!

'_That idiot…'_

"Hey!" Patty shouted from the entrance. "Don't egg him on any further?"

"Why?" Oh god. He honestly looked confused. Was Luffy mentally ill or something?!

Krieg growled angrily, before he rose to his feet. "Alright, move it men. It's time to teach that dreamer brat over there the true meaning of strength!"

He pulled out a gigantic shield, and all the pirates began to shriek hysterically.

"IT'S THE MH5!"

"Wha -! Don, wait!" Gin pleaded as all the cooks, including Sanji, Luffy, and I traded confused glances.

"If it's just a cannonball, I'll just bounce it back, you know," Luffy pointed out, like it was the most obvious thing the world.

"Please, Don, allow me to kill this man with my own ha -!" Gin began, but Krieg interrupted him.

"Whether you kill him or I do, the result is the same," Krieg snapped back. He held the giant shield out, aiming it over at Luffy. "You know that there's nothing I hate more than foolish, naïve things like 'honor' or 'compassion'," he told Luffy. "Listen well. This is a battle we're in. And in a battle, you fight to win. So all you have to do is win!"

"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" I shouted, and Krieg glared at me.

"Don't forget that I promised to kill you, brat," he threatened, and he instead shifted his shield over to me as the front panel extended and revealed a miniature cannon. "Maybe I'll use a poison gas bomb to do it!"

"Poison gas?" Sanji yelped as my face paled, and Kalbi began to panic next to me.

"Oh god, this isn't good!"

"Don!" Gin begged, but Krieg ignored him.

"One whiff of this'll be enough to render your body immobile! This is strength!"

The cannon exploded, and I froze in fear as the cannon ball shot towards Kalbi and I. I could see the pirates around us putting on gas masks as the rest of the cooks dove into the water, but Kalbi couldn't move both of us out of the way in time.

"Hazel!" Sanji shouted desperately, running to my side, but Luffy just grinned.

"I'll just knock it down into the sea!" Luffy declared, before he ran towards me and towards the bomb.

"YOU IDIOT!" Sanji shouted, racing after him. "COME BACK!"

Luffy leapt into the air, and moved to kick it. "I ain't afraid of a little poison gas!"

"No, that's not it!" Gin gasped in realization, and when Luffy kicked it, it exploded into hundreds of little throwing stars. Several of them pierced Luffy's arms and legs, but several headed over into my direction.

"Hazel!" Kalbi gasped, and I tugged weakly on Kalbi's white uniform as he moved in front of me.

"No, don't!" I begged. "I can take it! KALBI, MOVE!"

However, my screaming was for nothing, because Sanji appeared before both of us and kicked away the stray stars.

"Bastard," he growled, meaning Krieg, and Kalbi and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Luffy collided back on the deck as the cooks made a commotion about the shrapnel bomb.

"Ow!" Luffy groaned, clutching at his wounds, and the pirates cheered in delight at their leader's accomplishment.

"HUH?" Luffy's eyes bugged as he took in the cuts all over his body. "WASN'T IT SUPPOSED TO BE A POISON GAS BOMB?!"

My jaw dropped in disbelief as Sanji bellowed, "A LITTLE SLOW ON THE UPTAKE, DON'T YOU THINK?!"

Krieg laughed. "A single poison gas bomb is enough to entirely wipe out a small town! As if I'd waste it to kill you two pieces of trash!"

"I see," Luffy declared solemnly, rising to his feet. "He got me good."

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU AGREEING WITH HIM, LUFFY?!" I shouted, before clutching at my ribs in pain. Owww. I guess I should stop yelling at the teen for his idiocy. It's not like my yelling was getting through to him.

"THIS IS WHAT A BATTLE IS! I'VE GOT MORE WAYS TO KILL YOU THAN I CAN COUNT!" Krieg boasted. "NOW I'LL ASK YOU AGAIN! WHICH ONE OF US DO YOU THINK IS MORE FIT TO BECOME THE PIRATE KING?!"

"Me!" Luffy answered like it was obvious, folding his arms. "It definitely can't be you!"

A vein in Krieg's forehead throbbed, and he ordered, "Gin! You're responsible for killing that cook and monkey brat! But I'll kill this brat myself!"

Gin bowed his head. "Understood, Don."

He and Sanji faced each other. "Sorry, Sanji," he apologized. "But you can't win against me."

"Hah," Sanji snorted, shoving his cigarette into his mouth. "Took the words right out of my mouth."

The two fighters faced each other as Krieg grumbled, "Damn brat. I'll demonstrate to you the might of the ruler of East Blue. You'll know soon enough that your strange power is meaningless before me."

"Keep talking," Luffy replied, straightening the hat on his head. "I'll send you flying either way."

I hung my head. "I give up. He's an idiot through and through."

Luffy cracked his knuckles. "I'll come on over there right now so just sit tight," he told Krieg, and Krieg laughed incredulously.

"So you're stupid enough to try and come over here again, are you?"

A flurry of movement to the side caught my attention, and I yelped, "Sanji! Watch out!"

"Here I come!" Gin announced, swinging his tonfas dangerously as he jumped towards Sanji. Sanji just watched him, his hands in his pockets as he stood there.

However, Sanji let out a startled curse when Gin shoved one of his tonfas into the deck and threw broken pieces of wood at the blond cook. "Whoa!" He jumped up, narrowly avoiding the attack, and thrust out his foot in a devastating front kick. "Damn you!"

Gin twisted and ducked under the blow, before smirking at Sanji. "Allow me to tell you my nickname," he said confidently. "It's 'the Demon'."

Gin swung a tonfa, and it slammed down onto Sanji's chest, sending the cook crashing down onto the deck. Gin sat down next to him, and held the tonfa down against Sanji's windpipe.

"I don't have a shred of sympathy for you anymore. So long." He began to swing the other tonfa above him, using momentum to gain more force behind his attack as he added, "At the very least, I'll kill you without leaving behind a disfigured corpse!"

I screamed when he swung down. "SANJI!" And before I could even process it, I raced forward, seizing the cigarette in Sanji's mouth and shoving the burning tip against Gin's face.

"AGH!" the pirate grunted, jerking back, and Sanji used that split second of distraction to push himself into a handstand and narrowly avoid Gin's killing blow.

He landed back down into a crouch as Gin pulled away, and I saw Sanji's arms flex as he pushed himself up into a backwards handspring, the heel of his foot slamming into Gin's chin.

The pirate reeled away, before his eyes landed on me. "Hazel," he growled, and before Sanji and I could move, he was before me.

My eyes widened, and the weighted end of his tonfa smashed into my head.

After that, I knew no more.

* * *

**Not much of a cliffhanger, I know, but hopefully enough to tide ya'll over until next week! As always, review, send feedback, give criticism, whatever! I'm always looking for ways to improve this story, so if you have anything at all, then please, let me know!  
**

**Also, happy Chinese New Year's! (even though it's a few days late haha)**

**Posted and edited: 2/2/14, 5:52 PM**


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